The Human Development Report (HDR), based on its quantitative methodological fundament – the Human Development Index is one of the longest-standing and most comprehensive tools for data-gathering, analysis, and policy assessment in the field of human development. Published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the HDR is being published continuously for more than three decades.

With its comprehensive and voluminous database from almost all countries in the World, it is an investigative instrument under the auspices of the UN system ever since 1990. The analytical scope of the HDR entails vital political, social, economic, and cultural topics related to human development.

The HDR is based on the HDI which is a complex index i.e., “a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living” being a “geometric mean of normalized indices for each of the three dimensions” (UNDP, HDR 2021/22).

The ranking of North Macedonia in the HDR did not commence as soon as quantitative data started to be collected for the needs of the Report in 1990. Longitudinal data indicates that North Macedonia has been present in the rankings since 2000, and ever since, the value trend of the HDI follows the developments in the global values of the HDI. North Macedonia is placed in the group of countries with high human development (second best cohort)3. The broader picture of the last two decades reveals that the progress of North Macedonia has been more rapid in the 2000-2010 period - 0, 90%, compared to the 2010-2021 period with only 0, 36% increase of the HDI value.