Georgia ranked 63 of 191 countries and territories covered by the Human Development Index (HDI) released by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on September 8. As in 90% of the world’s countries, Georgia’s HDI score slightly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but remains high at 0.802. This places Georgia in a top group of countries with very high human development and shows promise for a speedy recovery from the crisis.
By HDI value, Georgia ranks ahead of Armenia (0.759), Azerbaijan (0.745), Moldova (0.767) and Ukraine (0.773), but is behind Belarus (0.808) and Turkey (0.838). In the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Georgia’s score is similar to that of Serbia (0.802), while, globally, is close to Mauritius (0.802), Malaysia (0.802) and Panama (0.805).
Georgia’s human development advanced between 2000 and 2021. GNI per capita leapt by about 183.2%, life expectancy at birth increased by 2.1 years, and expected years of schooling gained 2.4 years. This notable progress consequently translated into a HDI increase of 14.2%, from 0.702 in 2000 to 0.802 in 2021.
However, UNDP’s report also shows that some part of this success is being lost when Georgia’s HDI is discounted by inequality. The Inequality Adjusted HDI loses 12% and goes down to 0.706, signalling that not all social groups in Georgia equally benefit from the country’s economic gains and other achievements.
“Georgia is making good progress in many development areas, but the challenge of inequality requires more attention,” said Nick Beresford, UNDP Resident Representative in Georgia. “To ensure that no-one is left behind, we need to redouble our investment efforts in human development, particularly in health, education and social protection programs.”
Calculated throughout the last 32 years, UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) combines health, education and income to rank the world’s countries. It also includes additional dimensions, such as inequalities, gender gaps, multidimensional poverty, and planetary pressures. By providing a complex assessment of the human development landscape, HDI illustrates how world societies would change if both people and the planet were central to defining humanity’s progress.
The 2021 HDI signals that human development has been declining for two years in a row, falling back to its 2016 levels and reversing much of the progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. Nine out of 10 countries registered a decline in their HDI score in either 2020 or 2021, and more than 40% declined in both years.
To learn more about the 2021 Human Development Index, visit: https://hdr.undp.org/data-center
To learn more about the 2022 Human Development Report, visit https://hdr.undp.org/human-development-report-2021-22
