Canada’s Ranking
on the Human Development Index (HDI)

July 10, 2001

The United Nations Development Programme Report shows that Canada’s HDI score increased this year, with our score for health and education remaining virtually the same and our GDP per capita increasing significantly.

However, Norway and Australia improved at a faster rate than Canada, and we congratulate them on their accomplishments.

It is worth noting that, while the UNDP ranked us third, Canada’s HDI score is exactly the same as Australia’s, which ranked second, and Sweden, which ranked fourth. In fact, the top six countries on the index are all within .005 of a point of each other. This underscores the extent to which small changes in any one of the elements that make up the rating can affect a country’s final score.

According to UN experts, Canada’s lower ranking has more to do with a new method of estimating life expectancy than any changes for the worse in Canada. In fact, Statistics Canada data shows that, while the rate of increase has slowed, there has not been a decline in life expectancy in Canada.

The fact that Canada was ranked as number one on the index for seven years straight is a remarkable and unprecedented achievement. Most countries change rank from year to year -- some quite substantially. For example, between 1994 and 2000, Canada consistently ranked first while the US ranking fluctuated between second and eighth.

Turning to another aspect of the report, we are extremely pleased that Canada has improved its ranking on the Gender Empowerment Index from 8^th to 6^th place, reflecting the fact that there are increasing numbers of women in Parliament and in professional and technical occupations in Canada.

The UN Human Development Index measures the achievements of a country in three basic dimensions of human development:

• A long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth;

• Knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate and education enrollment; and

• A decent standard of living, as measured by GDP per capita.

Our government is committed to working with all Canadians to continue to improve the quality of life in our country. And with our bold, forward-looking policies, we are making tremendous headway in all areas.