Who climbed
The UN's Human Development Index for every country we hold, year by year. It sums up how a country does on a long and healthy life, education and a decent standard of living. Green lines are the biggest climbers since 1990, red lines the countries furthest below their own best year, the dashed line the median.
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Source: UNDP Human Development Report, composite indices complete time series, 2025 HDR edition. geo-reality.com
Green lines
Of the 140 countries with a 1990 figure, 139 are higher in 2023. The biggest gains to 2023 were China (0.491 to 0.797), Bangladesh (0.397 to 0.685), Guyana (0.494 to 0.776), Vietnam (0.499 to 0.766) and Myanmar (0.347 to 0.609). Countries whose series starts later are left out of this ranking.
Red lines
15 countries are at least 0.01 below their own best year. The furthest: Syria (0.669 in 2010, 0.564 in 2023), Venezuela (0.773 in 2013, 0.709 in 2023), Libya (0.758 in 2012, 0.721 in 2023), Yemen (0.507 in 2013, 0.470 in 2023) and South Sudan (0.422 in 2011, 0.388 in 2023).
Dashed line
Among the 139 countries with a figure for every year, the median rose from 0.638 in 1990 to 0.776 in 2023. Counting only those keeps countries that joined the data later from moving the line.
The chart draws every country with a series in the UNDP file. A missing series stays missing; we don't fill gaps. Countries without one:
Sources. UNDP Human Development Report, composite indices complete time series, 2025 HDR edition, 1990 to 2023. Values as published, three decimals, no gaps filled: a missing year is a break in the line. 190 countries plotted; 11 have no series in the file. Full methodology →