******* had the highest level of the Human Development Index (HDI) worldwide in 2023 with a value of *****. With a score of ****, ****** followed closely behind *********** and had the second-highest level of human development in that year. The rise of the Asian tigers In the decades after the Cold War, the four so-called Asian tigers, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong (now a Special Administrative Region of China) experienced rapid economic growth and increasing human development. At number eight and number 13 of the HDI, respectively, *********************** are the only Asian locations within the top-15 highest HDI scores. Both locations have experienced tremendous economic growth since the 1980’s and 1990’s. In 1980, the per capita GDP of Hong Kong was ***** U.S. dollars, increasing throughout the decades until reaching ****** in 2023, which is expected to continue to increase in the future. Meanwhile, in 1989, Singapore had a GDP of nearly ** billion U.S. dollars, which has risen to nearly *** billion U.S. dollars today and is also expected to keep increasing. Growth of the UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the only Middle Eastern country besides Israel within the highest ranking HDI scores globally. Within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the UAE has the third-largest GDP behind Saudi Arabia and Israel, reaching nearly *** billion U.S. dollars by 2022. Per capita, the UAE GDP was around ****** U.S. dollars in 1989, and has nearly doubled to ****** U.S. dollars by 2021. Moreover, this is expected to reach over ****** U.S. dollars by 2029. On top of being a major oil producer, the UAE has become a hub for finance and business and attracts millions of tourists annually.

This dataset shows Qatar’s score and ranking in the Human Development Index. The index is a composite measure of health, education, and gross income per capita. It provides an overview of human well-being and is used to classify countries by development level and assess the impact of economic policies.

The USA: Human Development Index (0 - 1): The latest value from 2023 is 0.938 points, an increase from 0.927 points in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 0.744 points, based on data from 185 countries. Historically, the average for the USA from 1980 to 2023 is 0.898 points. The minimum value, 0.825 points, was reached in 1980 while the maximum of 0.938 points was recorded in 2023.

Niger: Human Development Index (0 - 1): The latest value from 2023 is 0.419 points, an increase from 0.394 points in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 0.744 points, based on data from 185 countries. Historically, the average for Niger from 1980 to 2023 is 0.298 points. The minimum value, 0.191 points, was reached in 1980 while the maximum of 0.419 points was recorded in 2023.

In 2021, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Minnesota had the highest Human Development Index (HDI) score of any other states at ****. Many more states had a score just below this at ****. Mississippi had the lowest HDI score at ****, and the U.S. average was ****.

This statistic depicts the human development index (HDI) score of Qatar from 1980 to 2013. In 1990, Qatar achieved a score of ***** on the human development index, which ranked it among the countries with a high level of human development.

In 2021, the Human Development Index (HDI) score for the Netherlands was 0.941 on a scale from 0 to 1. This was higher than in the previous year, where the HDI score was 0.939. The Human Devlopment Index (HDI) is a measure of well-being of a country's citizens, taking into account three factors; per capita income, life expectancy, and education.

In 2023, Indonesia had a human development index score of 73.55. This reflects a slight increase in comparison to the previous year. The HDI score of Indonesia has been gradually increasing for the past decade.

Summary

Here we introduce the Chinese Human Development Index (CHDI) dataset for the period 2010–2020, which extends the HDI framework to a more granular spatial scale. It encompasses the CHDI values, the three underlying dimension indices (health, education, and income), and the four indicators required to construct them: life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, and gross national income per capita. These indicators were compiled from population censuses, official development plans, and other authoritative statistical sources. The dataset’s fine-grained resolution and methodological rigor ensure both temporal and spatial comparability, providing a robust empirical foundation for analyzing evolving patterns, policy mechanisms, and regional divergences in China’s human development.

With detailed provincial and prefectural division codes, the dataset can be merged with other data sources for comprehensive analyses.

Contact Person

Pu Gong (gongpu@tsinghua.edu.cn)

Countries from Natural Earth 50M scale data with a Human Development Index attribute, repeated for each of the following years: 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, & 2013, to enable time-series display using the YEAR attribute. The Human Development Index measures achievement in 3 areas of human development: long life, good education and income. Specifically, the index is computed using life expectancy at birth, Mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, and gross national income (GNI) per capita (PPP $). The United Nations categorizes the HDI values into 4 groups. In 2013 these groups were defined by the following HDI values: Very High: 0.736 and higher High: 0.615 to 0.735 Medium: 0.494 to 0.614 Low: 0.493 and lower

Human Development Index attributes are from The World Bank: HDRO calculations based on data from UNDESA (2013a), Barro and Lee (2013), UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2013), UN Statistics Division (2014), World Bank (2014) and IMF (2014).

Chad: Human Development Index (0 - 1): The latest value from 2023 is 0.416 points, an increase from 0.394 points in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 0.744 points, based on data from 185 countries. Historically, the average for Chad from 2000 to 2023 is 0.368 points. The minimum value, 0.298 points, was reached in 2000 while the maximum of 0.416 points was recorded in 2023.

The Human Development Index (HDI) in Afghanistan in 2019 was ****, which was an increase compared to *** in 1990. The expected years at birth was the largest contributor to the Human Development Index (HDI) score of Afghanistan in 2019.

The human development index (HDI) itself is a statistic that combines life-expectancy, education levels, and GDP per capita. Countries with scores over ***** are considered to have very high levels of development, compared with countries that score lower. Hungary's HDI score has increased significantly since 1990 when it had a score of *****, reaching a score of **** by 2022.

The human development index (HDI) score of Russia slightly increased in 2023, having reached *****. That was the highest observation since 1990. The HDI is a statistic that combines life-expectancy, education levels and GDP per capita. Countries with scores over 0.800 are considered to have very high levels of development, compared with countries that score lower. The HDI score of Russia declined between 1990 and 1995 before recovering from 2000 onwards.

The Human Development Index (HDI) of Germany has increased from ***** in 1990 to ***** by 2021, indicating that Germany has reached very high levels of human development. The HDI itself is a statistic that combines life-expectancy, education levels and GDP per capita. Countries with scores over ***** are considered to have very high levels of development, compared with countries that score lower. Germany's HDI score has increased from ***** in 1990 to ***** by 2019, implying that Germany has consistently had a very high level of human development.

Human Development Index by country for 2013. This is a filtered layer based on the "Human Development Index by country, 1980-2010 time-series" layer.The Human Development Index measures achievement in 3 areas of human development: long life, good education and income. Specifically, the index is computed using life expectancy at birth, Mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, and gross national income (GNI) per capita (PPP $).The United Nations categorizes the HDI values into 4 groups. In 2013 these groups were defined by the following HDI values:

Very High Human Development: 0.736 and higher High Human Development: 0.615 to 0.735 Medium Human Development: 0.494 to 0.614 Low Human Development: 0.493 and lower

Country shapes from Natural Earth 50M scale data. Human Development Index attributes are from The World Bank: HDRO calculations based on data from UNDESA (2013a), Barro and Lee (2013), UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2013), UN Statistics Division (2014), World Bank (2014) and IMF (2014).

Mexico: Human Development Index (0 - 1): The latest value from 2023 is 0.789 points, an increase from 0.781 points in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 0.744 points, based on data from 185 countries. Historically, the average for Mexico from 1980 to 2023 is 0.721 points. The minimum value, 0.595 points, was reached in 1980 while the maximum of 0.789 points was recorded in 2023.

Croatia: Human Development Index (0 - 1): The latest value from 2023 is 0.889 points, an increase from 0.878 points in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 0.744 points, based on data from 185 countries. Historically, the average for Croatia from 1990 to 2023 is 0.778 points. The minimum value, 0.665 points, was reached in 1991 while the maximum of 0.889 points was recorded in 2023.

Hong Kong: Human Development Index (0 - 1): The latest value from 2023 is 0.955 points, a decline from 0.956 points in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 0.744 points, based on data from 185 countries. Historically, the average for Hong Kong from 1980 to 2023 is 0.869 points. The minimum value, 0.698 points, was reached in 1980 while the maximum of 0.956 points was recorded in 2022.

In 2023 Zurich was both the leading smart city based on the IMD smart city index as well as the city with the highest human development index score, making it one of the premier places on earth to live in. Notable exceptions to the HDI to IMD index score were Beijing, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. Beijing is a notable outlier because although it ranked 12th on the digital smart cities ranking it was nearly 90 points lower than Zurich on the HDI score. This is compared to Munich, Germany, which was the 20th digital city but had a HDI score of 950.

Smart tech is watching.

CCTV cameras powered by artificial intelligence have become a significant growing market in the modern city. These are predominantly residential, with half the market catering to residential applications of CCTV cameras. However, commercial and business-related CCTV cameras have also seen significant growth, with the market reaching over 800 million U.S. dollars in 2023.

Digital cities need data and data needs infrastructure.

The leading issue with AI infrastructure is data management. AI is a strong influence on how digital cities work and requires a considerable amount of infrastructure to be effective. Storage of AI software is a minor concern, accounting for less than ten percent of challenges globally in 2023.