Turkey ranks 71st in UN Human Development Index

ISTANBUL

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Turkey has scored 71 out of 188 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI) for 2016, according to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) latest Human Development Report. 

The report said that Turkey’s HDI value rose one place compared to 2015, putting it 71st with a score of 0.767, up from the previous year’s score of 0.761.

Turkey shared 71st place with Venezuela.

While Norway topped the list with an HDI value of 0.949, the Central African Republic finished last with an HDI value of 0.352. 

Between 1990 and 2015, Turkey’s HDI value rose from 0.576 to 0.767, which corresponds to an increase of 33.2 percent. During the same time period, Turkey’s life expectancy at birth increased by 11.2 years, while the expected years of schooling and mean years of schooling also rose by 5.7 and 3.7 years, respectively. 

Turkey’s gross national product (GNP) per capita rose by nearly 78.2 percent between 1990 and 2015.

The HDI value of Turkey in 2015 was above the average HDI value of the countries in the high human development category and European and Central Asian countries, which were calculated at 0.744 and 0.748, respectively.  

But when the difference in inequality in human development is subtracted, Turkey’s HDI value registers a loss of 15.8 percent to fall to 0.641. 

The average loss by countries in the high human development category is 20 percent, while the ratio is 12.7 percent in Europe and Central Asia. 

Turkey’s coefficient of human inequality, meanwhile, totaled 15.8 percent. 

According to the report’s Gender Development Index (GDI), which included 161 countries, Turkey’s GDI value was calculated at 0.908, with a score of 0.724 for women and 0.797 for men. 

In the Gender Inequality Index (GII), Turkey’s value was calculated at 0.328, putting it 69th among 159 countries. The ratio of female lawmakers in the parliament also totaled 14.9 percent.

When the population with at least some secondary education for ages 25 and above was examined, the ratio was 43.5 percent for women and 64.8 percent for men. 

According to the report, a total of 16 women out of 100,000 die while giving birth, while the adolescent birth ratio for women between the ages of 15 and 19 was calculated at 27.6 for every 1,000 women. 

The labor force participation rate was 30.4 percent for women and 71.4 percent for men. 

Human Development Reports have been issued by UNDP since 1990. 

The composite HDI integrates three basic dimensions of human development. Life expectancy at birth reflects the ability to lead a long and healthy life. Mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling reflect the ability to acquire knowledge. And gross national income per capita reflects the ability to achieve a decent standard of living.

To measure human development more comprehensively, the Human Development Report also presents four other composite indices. The Inequality-adjusted HDI discounts the HDI according to the extent of inequality.

The GDI compares female and male HDI values. The GII highlights women’s empowerment. And the Multidimensional Poverty Index measures non-income dimensions of poverty.

The report states that universalism is key to human development and that human development for everyone is attainable.

“Various groups of people still suffer from basic deprivations and face substantial barriers to overcoming them. Human development for everyone calls for refocusing some analytical issues and assessment perspectives. Policy options exist and, if implemented, would contribute to achieving human development for everyone. A reformed global governance, with fairer multilateralism, would help attain human development for everyone,” the report said.