THE Philippines’ ranking in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) latest Human Development Index (HDI) saw an improvement by three notches from the previous year’s level, the agency’s official report released on Tuesday said.
The Human Development Report 2025 showed the Philippines’ HDI ranking in 2023 improved to 117 from the prior year’s 120th spot. The report ranks 193 economies across the globe.
PH in high category
The Philippines saw a score of 0.72, better than the HDI 2022 value of 0.714, with the country still in the high human development category.
The HDI is a composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development—a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living.
An HDI of less than 0.550 translates to low human development, 0.550 to 0.699 for medium human development, 0.700 to 0.799 for high human development and 0.800 or greater for very high human development. The HDI has an upper limit of 1.0.
The Philippines was “among the fastest growing economies in ASEAN/Asia in 2023 at +5.5%, amid favorable demographics; as well as lower poverty rate/incidence; also improved employment data to among the best in nearly 20 years,” Michael Ricafort, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist, said.
Among Asean economies, those considered with very high human development include Singapore at the 13th spot, Brunei Darussalam at the 60th place and Malaysia which is ranked 67th.
Asean countries joining the Philippines in the high human development category are Thailand (76th), Vietnam (93rd) and Indonesia (113th).
Still in the same category but ranking below the Philippines are Lao People’s Democratic Republic (147th), Myanmar (150th) and Cambodia (151st).
Meanwhile, the country with the highest HDI value is Iceland, with a score of 0.972.
Others that topped the list are Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Hong Kong, Netherlands and Belgium.
On the other hand, South Sudan was at the bottom of the list with an HDI value of 0.388.
Other countries with low HDI value are Somalia, Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Yemen.
‘Unprecedented slowdown elsewhere’
UNDP said in a statement human development progress is experiencing an unprecedented slowdown. Instead of seeing sustained recovery following the period of exceptional crises of 2020-2021, the report reveals unexpectedly weak progress.
Excluding those crisis years, the meager rise in global human development projected in this year’s report is the smallest increase since 1990, UNDP said.
Beyond the alarming rate of deceleration in global development, the report finds widening inequalities between rich and poor countries.
“For decades, we have been on track to reach a very high human development world by 2030, but this deceleration signals a very real threat to global progress,” Achim Steiner, UNDP administrator said.
“Amidst this global turmoil, we must urgently explore new ways to drive development. As Artificial Intelligence continues its rapid advance across so many aspects of our lives, we should consider its potential for development,” Steiner added.
