A tool developed by the United Nations to measure
and rank countries' levels of social and economic development based on four
criteria: Life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of
schooling and gross national income per capita.
The HDI makes it possible to track changes in
development levels over time and to compare development levels in different
countries.
In 2013,
the index ranked Norway, Australia, United States, Germany and the New Zealand,
at the top of its list for "very high human development." The
countries that fell at the bottom of its "low human development" list
were Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Niger, Congo, Chad, Haiti, Moldova
The index also
shows that countries with lots of income do not always spend that money in ways
that create high life expectancies or education levels.