Croatia’s HDI value for 2011 is 0.796, placing it in the very high human development category (the highest of four categories) and positioning the country at 46 out of 187 countries and territories. Between 1995 and 2011, Croatia’s HDI value increased from 0.713 to 0.796, an increase of 12.0 per cent or average annual increase of about 0.7 per cent. Last year, Croatia ranked 51st on the HDI.

 

UNDP has commissioned the editorially-independent Human Development Report each year since 1990, when its Human Development Index (HDI), a composite measure of health, education and income, first challenged purely economic measures of national achievement and called for consistent global tracking of progress in overall living standards.

 

2011 Human Development Report, entitled "Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All", argues that environmental sustainability can be most fairly and effectively achieved by addressing health, education, income, and gender disparities together with the need for global action on energy production and ecosystem protection.

 

Norway has topped the rank since 2006 and still ranks first this year, followed by Australia, Netherlands, United States and New Zealand in top five, while Chad, Mozambique, Burundi, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the bottom five countries. 

 

The 187 countries ranked in the 2011 HDI represents a significant increase from the 169 countries included in the 2010 Index, when key indicators for many countries were unavailable.