Human Development Report

The report was first launched in 1990 by the Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.[2] Its goal was to place people at the center of the development process in terms of economic debate, policy and advocacy.

"The basic objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives.

The United Nations General Assembly has formally recognized the Report as "an independent intellectual exercise" and "an important tool for raising awareness about human development around the world."

The new report also included a change in the methodology used to calculate the indexes using better statistical methods, as well as new parameters for judging the growth and development.

The "Top 10 Movers" highlighted in the 2010 Report—those countries among the 135 that improved most in HDI terms over the past 40 years—were led by Oman, which invested energy earnings over the decades in education and public health.

The other nine "Top Movers" are China, Nepal, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Laos, Tunisia, South Korea, Algeria and Morocco.

Remarkably, China was the only country that made the "Top 10" list due solely to income performance; the main drivers of HDI achievement were in health and education.

The next 10 leaders in HDI improvement over the past 40 years include several low-income but high HID-achieving countries "not typically described as success stories," the Report notes, among them Ethiopia (#11), Cambodia (#15) and Benin (#18)—all of which made big gains in education and public health.

In the wake of COVID-19, record-breaking temperatures and spiraling inequality, it is time to use that power to redefine what we mean by progress, where our carbon and consumption footprints are no longer hidden.

"[15] Numerous highly developed wealthy countries plummeted as a result of their environmental impact, such as the United States, which dropped 45 places.