Some people claim the HDI (Human Development Index) is a useless way of measuring things like standard of living and quality of life and that it basically is created to make the most PC countries on Earth, namely the Scandinavian ones, look good. One of the two ‘inventors’ of this index, 1990 Indian Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen, has furthermore actually described it as a “vulgar measure”, because of its obvious limitations.
However, it ought to noted that:
- The HDI does NOT tell a very different story from GDP per capita statistics.
- A ‘politically incorrect’ country like the US scores better than a ‘peaceful’, ‘environmentally concerned’ Scandinavian country like Denmark in the HDI department, even though Denmark boasts a higher GDP/Capita.
- The differences in score between the top 15 countries (USA places 12th) is subtle, to say the least. Iceland (1st) scores 0.968 out of a possible maximum score of 1 and Austria (15th) scores 0.948 (USA scores 0.951).
But how to achieve a maximum score?
All a country needs is:
1. A life expectancy of 85
2. A literacy rate of 100%
3. A ‘Combined gross enrolment ratio’ of 100%
4. A GDP per capita (at purchasing power parity) of 40 000 USD
Few, if any, experts would claim HDI is an apt instrument for measuring standard of living. All the HDI offers is a hint at how different nations perform in some areas that a lot of people feel are central to the notion of a ‘well functioning society’.
In fact, there are no really good answers to questions like what the richest/most successful/most developed country is or what country has the highest standard of living or the highest quality of life.
BUT, whatever measure you use nations like Switzerland, the US, Canada and the Scandinavian ones seems to take the lead AND they all have an exceptionally high GDP per capita and are furthermore countries that nourish a culture of competitiveness, work ethics, free market principles and Capitalism. Even though, for instance, the US has high corporate taxes and Scandinavia has a traditional culture of egalitarianism, countries like these constitute the prime evidence for the superiority of Capitalism over all other present economical systems.
Below, links to some related statistics
List of countries by nominal GDP per capita:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita
List of countries by GDP at purchasing power parity per capita:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita
Present levels of real GDP growth around the world:
http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/index.php
Obviously Human Development does not include taking a bath every night................
This stat is the joker in the deck. It comes with the assumption that mere enrollment up to tertiary schools is a measure of civilization. There are many enrolled students who are not learning a thing (especially at University), and many "homeschooled" and "College of the Real World" learners who are educated far above the average.