Iran's Six-Position Improvement in the United Nations Human Development Index

On Wednesday, March 3, the representative of the United Nations Development Office announced in Tehran that Iran's position in the Human Development Report of 2015 has improved by six ranks. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Gary Lewis, the UN coordinator in Iran, stated during the unveiling of the Human Development Report for Iran in 2015 that Iran's global rank has risen from 75 to 69. He noted that according to the 2013 report, Iran's Human Development Index (HDI) was 0.749, placing it 75th among 187 countries. However, in the recent UN report, Iran's HDI has improved to 0.766, indicating that Iran ranks 69th among 188 countries worldwide. Another statistic provided by this UN official from the Human Development Report for Iran is the 'life expectancy' and 'average years of schooling,' which have increased by 21.3 years and 5.9 years respectively from 1980 to 2014. The report states that the life expectancy at birth for women in Iran is 76.5 years and for men is 74.3 years, while the global averages for these indicators are 77.4 years for women and 72.8 years for men. In the 2015 global Human Development Index, Norway holds the highest position, followed by Australia, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand in the second to tenth ranks respectively. The Human Development Index in each country is measured based on life expectancy, education, and gross national income per capita. High rankings in the Human Development Index indicate longer life expectancy and education in that country and higher per capita income.