HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX. 2020

The Basque Country ranks at 12th place in the 2020 global HDI country ranking

Norway, Iceland and Switzerland topped the list of developed countries and Spain was in 25th place

The Basque Country, with a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.937, was at the level of 12th place in the classification of countries, according to Eustat data applying the methodology of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) embodied in its latest report of 2020, with data from 2019.

The report published by the UNDP in 2020 sets a global ranking of 189 countries by living conditions. The study allocated an HDI to each country (on a scale of 0 to 1) according to life expectancy at birth, expected years of schooling for children at school age, mean years of schooling for adults aged 25 or above, and Gross National Income per capita.

The HDI places Basque society amongst the most developed in the world, only behind Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Iceland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland and Singapore. Spain came 25th in the UNDP report, with an HDI of 0.904. Niger came last in the ranking with an HDI of 0.394.

In the period 2010-2019, all the components of HDI improved in the Basque Country. Life expectancy went from 82.4 to 83.9 years, in addition to occupying 3rd place, only behind Hong Kong (84.9) and Japan (84.6).

The situation was the same with regard to the expected years of schooling indicator, which went from 18.1 to 18.6 years and also places the Basque Country amongst the top positions, specifically in 9th place, behind Australia (22.0), Belgium (19.8), Sweden (19.5), Finland (19.4), Iceland (19.1), Denmark (18.9), New Zealand (18.8) and Ireland (18.7).

With regard to the mean years of schooling, although this also increased in the aforementioned period, from 10.2 to 11.2 years, the Basque Country was overtaken by 51 countries, led by Germany (14.2 years on average) and the United States, Switzerland and Canada, all three with 13.4.

Between 2010 and 2019 the Gross National Income per capita in the Basque Country increased from 50,877 to 57,438 US dollars (from 2017), as measured in terms of purchasing power parity, putting it a long way behind Norway (66,494) and Liechtenstein (131,032), the country with the highest income per person in the world, but ahead of countries like Germany (55,314) and Iceland (54,682).

If the comparison is made with the previous year, 2018, three of the four HDI components improve: life expectancy (three tenths, from 83.6 to 83.9), mean years of schooling (one tenth, from 11.1 to 11.2) and gross national income (from 56,659 to 57,438). In contrast, the expected years of schooling go from 18.7 to 18.6, although the difference is only 5 hundredths.

Human Development Index. Structural Indicators

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62

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