Turkey posted a 0.820 value in the human development index (HDI), a figure reported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for 189 countries revealed on Tuesday.
The Human Development Report, titled “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene,” showed that Turkey has made significant improvements since 1990 when the first such listing was released. The country’s HDI value rose by 40.7% from 0.583.
HDI 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.
Retaining its top position, Norway posted an index value of 0.957 in 2019, followed by Switzerland with 0.955 and Iceland and Hong Kong at 0.949 each. Niger, at 0.394, was at the bottom of the index rankings. It was followed by the Central African Republic with 0.397, Chad with 0.398 and South Sudan and Burundi, both with 0.433.
The report said the average index value stood at 0.898 for the very high human development group and 0.791 for countries in Europe and Central Asia.
Life expectancy at birth in Turkey last year had increased by 13.4 years from 1990. The average life expectancy at birth for Turkish citizens has reached 78.3 years, with women living 5.4 years longer than men, according to a report released last year by Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) based on 2016-2018 data.
