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Switzerland at the top of the UN Human Development Index

Switzerland at the top of the UN Human Development Index

Tokyo (SCCIJ) – Switzerland leads the United Nations Human Development Index for 2021-22, reaching a score of 0.962 out of 1. The index aims to measure the well-being of a nation beyond GDP by also looking at life expectancy, education, and income.

Switzerland at the top of the UN Human Development Index

Switzerland has been ranked No. 1 on the UN Human Development Index 2021-22(© Pixabay).

Pandemic impact

The results of the latest report titled “Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World” have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time in the 32 years that UNDP started calculating it, the Human Development Index has declined globally for two years in a row.

Human development has fallen back to its 2016 levels, reversing much of the progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. During the last two years, nine out of ten nations slid backward. Between 1990, when the index was first published, and 2019, the overall global index rose from 0.601 to 0.739 (+23%), rising every year. However, between 2019 and 2021 it fell to 0.732 (-1%).

The economic restrictions on economic life and the high number of deaths in some countries reversed a 30-year upward trend in life expectancy, education, and economic prosperity. For example, in the US where an estimated 1.2 million people have died of Covid-19 (excess deaths), life expectancy at birth has declined by 1.9 years since 2019, dipping to 1.7 years in 2020 and a further 0.2 years in 2021.

Big achievements

Switzerland was also hit by the pandemic. But the decrease in its Human Development Index score in 2020 was fully offset last year by a rise of 0.006. For example, Switzerland reached the world’s highest life expectancy of 84 years, up by 0.2 years compared to 2019 after dipping by 0.7 years in 2020.

Swiss people spent an average of 16.5 years in education and received a median salary of 66,000 US dollars. Contrastingly, South Sudan ranked lowest in this UN index, having a life expectancy at birth of 55 years, its citizens spending 5.5 years in school, and earning an average of 768 US dollars a year.

Switzerland also dominated specific subindices. In gender development, it scored 0.967 in 2021. While Swiss men get a bit more education than women (14.2 vs 13.5 years) and earn more (US$79,451 vs US$54,597), they live 3.9 fewer years. Regarding inequality between social strata, Switzerland scored 0.894 in 2021 – inequality in life expectancy was 3.1%, inequality in education 2%, and income inequality 15.6%.

Looking at the last three decades, Switzerland could achieve solid progress in human development. Since 1990, its development index score rose from 0.851 to 0.962, increasing by altogether 13%. Life expectancy at birth climbed by 6.6 years, the time for schooling went up by 3.3 years, and gross national income per capita was boosted by 13.2%.

Text: SCCIJ based on the UN Human Development Index releases

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