Turkey ranked 54^th among 189 countries by the Human Development Index, placing the country in the “very high human development” category second time in a row. Turkey improved by 40.7 percent over the past 29 years by this indicator of progress in human development.

The 30^th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene” introduces an experimental new index that captures the pressures exerted by countries on the planet. The new index shows that no country in the world has yet achieved very high human development without putting immense strain on the planet. The Report is in that sense a call to world leaders to ease enormous pressures on the nature as we enter an entirely new geological epoch “Anthropocene” where human beings wield the power to shape the future of our planet.

Ankara, 15 December 2020 – Turkey ranked 54^th among 189 countries and territories by the Human Development Index in the 2020 Human Development Report, cementing its place in the “very high human development” category which Turkey ascended last year at 59^th rank. By the human-centred index and measuring human development accordingly, Turkey improved by 40.7 percent over the past 29 years by this indicator of progress in human development.

The United Nations Development Programme released the “2020 Human Development Report” featuring a suite of indices based on the 2019 data including Human Development Index, Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, Gender Development Index, Gender Inequality Index, Multidimensional Poverty Index and a newly introduced global Planetary Pressures Adjusted Human Development Index.

Based on the official data from national statistics offices and reliable international entities, the Human Development Index 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.

By this index as one of the most recognised development indicators in the world, Norway retained top position at 0.957, followed by Ireland and Switzerland at 0.955, and Iceland and Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region, China) both at 0.949.

At the bottom of Human Development Index rankings were Niger at 0.394, Central African Republic at 0.397, Chad at 0.398, South Sudan and Burundi at 0.433.

The new Report calculated the average index value as 0.898 for the very high human development group, and 0.791 for the countries in Europe and Central Asia.

Turkey made significant progress over the past 29 years in this index as a measure of human development. Turkey’s HDI value was 0.583 in 1990, and increased by 40.7 percent to 0.820 in 2019.

Between 1990 and 2019, Turkey's life expectancy at birth increased by 13.4 years to 77.7, mean years of schooling increased by 3.6 years to 8.1, and expected years of schooling increased by 7.7 years to 16.6. Turkey's gross national income per capita increased by 121.4 percent to $27,701 in the same period.

When adjusted for inequality, Turkey’s HDI fell to 0.683 representing a loss of 16.7 percent due to inequality in the distribution of HDI dimension indices. The average loss due to inequality for very high HDI countries was 10.9 percent, and 11.9 percent for Europe and Central Asia.

The Report also included the Gender Inequality Index based on gender gaps in reproductive health, women’s empowerment and economic activities.

Turkey ranked 68th this year among 162 countries at 0.306 for this index which revealed the loss in human development due to inequalities between female and male achievements.

PHDI: A new Human Development Index accounting for planetary pressures exerted by countries

The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest crisis facing the world, but unless humans release their grip on nature, it won't be the last, according to the 30th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene”.

The Report introduced a new Human Development Index that included two more measures namely a country's carbon dioxide emissions and material footprint to adjust the overall index.

An experimental global index, Planetary-Pressures-Adjusted Human Development Index (PHDI), offers a new measurement of human progress that illustrates the challenge of tackling poverty and inequality while easing planetary pressure. The new index shows that no country in the world has yet achieved very high human development without putting immense strain on the planet. The Report is in that sense a call to world leaders to take bold steps to ease enormous pressures on the nature and environment as we progress on the human development.

The Anthropocene or the Age of Humans is defined as an entirely new geological epoch where human beings wield more power to shape the future of our planet rather than the other way around. The report argues that as people and planet enter an entirely new geological epoch, it is time for all countries to redesign their paths to progress by fully accounting for the dangerous pressures humans put on the planet, and dismantle the gross imbalances of power and opportunity that prevent change.

By the new index adjusting the Human Development Index by a country’s per capita carbon dioxide emission and material consumption based on the 2019 data, Turkey ranked 44^th among 169 countries at 0.746.

For further information on the 2020 Human Development Report:

http://hdr.undp.org/en/2020-report

https://www.tr.undp.org/content/turkey/tr/home/presscenter/articles/2020/12/igr-2020.html

For further information: UNDP Turkey Head of Communications Faik Uyanık - faik.uyanik@undp.org