The latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report, released today, reveals a concerning slowdown in global progress as measured by the Human Development Index (HDI). Although 2024 shows a slight improvement, the overall trajectory remains weak. Disparities between countries with low and very high HDI have widened for four consecutive years. Excluding the pandemic years (2020–2021), the 2024 HDI is the lowest on record – despite global economic growth exceeding 3%.  

Against this worrying backdrop, in 2023, Belarus has improved its HDI position, moving up from 69th in 2022 to 65th place out of 193 countries and territories. The nation’s HDI value of 0.824 places it in a group of countries with very high human development.

Since 1995, Belarus’s HDI has increased by 19.1%, driven by gains in life expectancy (+5.7 years), education (expected years of schooling +1.7 and mean years of schooling +2.4), and economic growth (GNI per capita raised by 231.7 %).  

Belarus also maintains one of the lowest inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) losses in Europe and Central Asia at just 6.4%.

The Gender Development Index (GDI) value of 1.009 places the country in Group 1, showing gender parity in health, education, and income. The report highlights Belarus as one of six countries in its region where women’s HDI (0.826) slightly exceeds men’s (HDI 0.820).

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) further reinforces this achievement. With a GII value of 0.080, Belarus ranks 27th out of 172 countries.  

The Human Development Index serves as a comprehensive measure of a society's overall progress, capturing three fundamental pillars of human well-being: living a long and healthy life, gaining access to knowledge, and achieving a decent standard of living. By evaluating longevity, education, and income, the HDI provides a nuanced assessment of development distribution across countries.

The UNDP-produced Human Development Index has existed since 1990. In its annual Human Development Reports, UNDP provides rankings of countries based on the HDI and these will help bring about positive change as countries compare their performance in the rankings with what they see as their peers.

This year, the Report examines how AI reshapes human development – the multifaceted impact of AI on human development, with a focus on well-being, agency, inequality, and opportunity.