The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Index for 2002 ranks Israel in 22nd place out of 174 countries.
Based on the UNDP Human Development Report 2002, the Bank of Israel stated that Israel’s ranking was unchanged. Israel ranks among the world’s most developed countries, which substantially improved their achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income in recent decades. Israel’s level of human development is around the OECD average.
The Human Development Index combines economic and social data across a wide range of issues, including GDP, economic growth, health and education levels, economic gaps between the rich and poor and degree of democracy.
Dr. Daniel Gottlieb of the Bank of Israel said the UNDP uses economic and social data to create a weighted balance sheet each year that includes life expectancy and levels of education. He noted that because the index does not take obligatory military service into account, it distorts Israel’s ranking downwards in education. The index correlates age groups and their years of education, which lowers Israel’s ranking.
Gottlieb also noted that Israel’s ranking was based on figures for 2000. Israel’s ranking in the next index will therefore be much lower, due to the 3.1% drop in GDP per capita in 2001 and expected 4.3% drop in 2002.
Another factor that lowers Israel’s ranking is poverty. The number of Israeli families living below the poverty line is one of the highest among the developed countries.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on October 16, 2002