Korea's Human Development Index Drops One Spot to 20th… Life Expectancy at World-Class Levels
According to the '2025 Human Development Report' released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Korea's Human Development Index (HDI) has dropped one place from the previous year to record a ranking of 20th. Although the numerical value improved from 0.928 to 0.937, the rankings fell due to larger increases in other countries.
As of the report released on the 6th of this month (local time), Korea's HDI has been steadily rising from 0.738 in 1990, reaching as high as 12th place in 2010 and 2012, and has remained among the top-ranking countries until recently. Notably, the life expectancy of Koreans stands at 84.33 years, which is the longest among the top HDI countries, excluding Hong Kong (85.5 years).
In the education sector, the expected years of schooling is 16.62 years, and the mean years of schooling is 12.72 years. The Gross National Income (GNI) per capita was estimated at $49,726 in purchasing power parity (PPP).
Concerns over Global HDI Rankings and Worsening Inequality
As of 2023, the top rank in the world HDI is held by Iceland (0.972). Iceland's life expectancy is 1.64 years shorter than that of Korea, but its expected years of schooling and mean years of schooling are 2.23 years and 1.19 years longer, respectively, while the GNI per capita is $69,117, exceeding that of Korea.
The top ranks are dominated by European countries such as Norway (0.970), Switzerland (0.970), Denmark (0.962), and Germany (0.959). Japan has risen one spot from the previous year to 23rd place (0.925), while China has dropped three spots to 78th (0.797) from the previous year's 75th rank.
The UNDP pointed out that excluding the COVID-19 period (2020-2021), the pace of improvement in human quality of life has reached its lowest level in 35 years since 1990. It emphasized that inequality between developed countries and developing countries is further worsening, urging that "as traditional development paths face pressure, there is a need for decisive actions to escape the stagnation of quality of life improvements in the long term."
Impact of AI on Human Life
The report also includes results of a global survey on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on human life.
About 50% of respondents indicated that their jobs could be automated by AI. However, six out of ten respondents foresaw that new jobs would be created due to AI, which would actually increase employment, and only 13% of respondents anticipated a reduction in jobs.
Image source: '2025 Human Development Report' published by UNDP. / UNDP, list of the top 10 countries in Human Development Index (HDI). / UNDP
