Human Rights: Human Development in the Middle East
(1995 - Present)
To read the full Human Development Index for 2015, please click here.
The Human Development Index (HDI) is an independent publication commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as an important tool for raising awareness about human development around the world.
The HDI is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income indices used to rank countries into four tiers of human development -
very high development, high development, medium development and low development.
The following chart ranks the Middle East:
Country | 1995 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 |
Algeria | 85 (Medium) | 107 (Medium) | 103 (Medium) | 84 (High) | 83 (High) |
Bahrain | 44 (High) | 41 (High) | 43 (High) | 39 (Very High) | 45 (Very High) |
Egypt | 107 (Medium) | 119 (Medium) | 119 (Medium) | 101 (Medium) | 108 (Medium) |
Iran | 70 (Medium) | 97 (Medium) | 99 (Medium) | 70 (High) | 69 (High) |
Iraq | 106 (Medium) | 126 (Medium) | -- | -- | 121 (Medium) |
Israel | 21 (Very High) | 23 (High) | 23 (Very High) | 15 (Very High) | 18 (Very High) |
Jordan | 80 (Medium) | 92 (Medium) | 90 (Medium) | 82 (High) | 80 (High) |
Kuwait | 61 (High) | 36 (High) | 44 (High) | 47 (High) | 48 (Very High) |
Lebanon | 101 (Medium) | 82 (Medium) | -- | -- | 67 (High) |
Libya | 73 (Medium) | 72 (Medium) | 81 (Medium) | 53 (High) | 94 (High) |
Morocco | 117 (Medium) | 124 (Medium) | 124 (Medium) | 114 (Medium) | 126 (Medium) |
Oman | 91 (Medium) | 86 (Medium) | 71 (Medium) | -- | 52 (High) |
Qatar | 56 (High) | 42 (High) | 40 (High) | 38 (Very High) | 32 (Very High) |
Saudi Arabia | 76 (Medium) | 75 (Medium) | 77 (Medium) | 55 (High) | 39 (Very High) |
Syria | 78 (Medium) | 111 (Medium) | 106 (Medium) | 111 (Medium) | 134 (Medium) |
Tunisia | 75 (Medium) | 101 (Medium) | 89 (Medium) | 81 (High) | 96 (High) |
United Arab Emirates | 45 (High) | 45 (High) | 41 (High) | 32 (Very High) | 41 (Very High) |
Yemen | 137 (Low) | 148 (Low) | 151 (Low) | 133 (Low) | 160 (Low) |
Sources: United Nations Development Programme