Georgia improves rank in UNDP Human Development report

Georgia has improved its position in the latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report on life expectancy and income per capita.

Georgia ranked 76 of 188 countries in the 2014 Human Development Index (HDI) 2015, released today by the UNDP. The country’s rank was 79 of 187 countries, according to last year’s report.

A UN official said the HDI report used data obtained from the previous year hence the 2015 report used 2014 figures. However the methodology used to calculate the report changed from year to year, so it was hard to compare annual scores, said the source.

The HDI is an average measure of basic human development achievements in a country. It is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development -- a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. 

"Georgia’s HDI value for 2014 was 0.754— which put the country in the high human development category—positioning it at 76 out of 188 countries and territories,” said the report. 

"Between 2000 and 2014, Georgia’s HDI value increased from 0.672 to 0.754, an increase of 12.2 percent or an average annual increase of about 0.83 percent.”

Regionally, Georgia ranked behind Russia (50) and Turkey (72), but was above Azerbaijan (78) and Armenia (85).

Norway topped the Human Development Index and was followed by Australia and Switzerland, while Niger and the Central African Republic were at the bottom of the report.