Rich countries dominate
The human development index, published annually, takes into account factors such as life expectancy, educational levels and real per capita income.
The top spot had belonged to Norway for the past 6 years and Iceland have now claimed that spot for themselves for the very first time. Other countries to have been ranked in the top spot include Canada (on 10 occasions), Japan (twice) and both Switzerland and Iceland once.
The United Kingdom slots in at 16th place with a HDI of 0.946 and a life expectancy at birth of 79 years.
On the other end of the scale, all 22 countries scoring a HDI of below 0.5 are located within Africa. The compilers at the U.N. Development Program state that two out of five children in 10 of these often AIDS afflicted countries will not reach the age of 40.
The list however isn't completely accurate, to the U.N's own admission. With not all member states choosing to provide up to date statistics, the index does use some data originally collected in 2005. The picture below however shows clearly the plight of some developing countries.
The full list of 177 countries can be viewed on the official U.N. website.
