A country's level of development is determined by far more than the size of its economy and household incomes. Life expectancy, access to education and the extent to which economic opportunities translate into quality of life matter just as much. These are the factors combined in the Human Development Index (HDI), calculated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The HDI covers three dimensions: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. They are measured using life expectancy, expected and mean years of schooling, and gross national income (GNI) per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP). The closer a country's score is to 1, the higher its level of human development.
High income alone does not guarantee a high HDI. The three dimensions are combined into a single score in such a way that weak performance in one cannot be fully offset by strong performance in another. The effect of rising income also diminishes as incomes grow. A high ranking therefore reflects a combination of longevity, education and income.
Kazakhstan led Central Asia, ranking 60th globally with a score of 0.837, and was the only country in the region in the "very high human development" category. Turkmenistan followed in 95th place with 0.764. Uzbekistan ranked 107th (0.74) and Kyrgyzstan 117th (0.72). Tajikistan came in 128th with 0.691 and fell into the "medium human development" category.
Life expectancy at birth in Uzbekistan is 72.4 years, the second highest in the region, and expected years of schooling stand at 12.5. Mean years of schooling, the average number of years spent in education by people aged 25 and older, is 11.9. GNI per capita at 2021 PPP is $8,800.
