Human dev index: Bangladesh up a notch but still stuck in 'medium' category
Despite the modest progress, the country remains in the “Medium Human Development” category, where it has remained since 2009
Bangladesh has moved up a notch to rank 130th among 193 countries in the 2023 Human Development Index (HDI) against the backdrop of an unprecedented global slowdown, according to UNDP's latest Human Development report released on Tuesday (6 May).
Despite the modest progress, the country remains in the "Medium Human Development" category, where it has remained since 2009.
The 2025 Human Development Report, titled "A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of AI", attributes Bangladesh's improved HDI score, from 0.680 to 0.685, to gains in health and living standards. However, the education dimension saw no progress.
According to the report, the HDI is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development – a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and having a decent standard of living.
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The health dimension is assessed by life expectancy at birth, education by the mean of years of schooling for adults aged 25 years and more and expected years of schooling for children of school-entering age, and standard of living by gross national income (GNI) per capita.
Bangladesh's life expectancy at birth has increased by 0.4 years since 2022, reaching 74.67 years in 2023. The country's GNI per capita, measured in 2021's purchasing power parity, rose to $8,498 from 2022's $8,114.
However, for education in 2023, mean years of schooling remained at 6.79 years, while expected years of schooling stood at 12.31 years, unchanged from the previous index.
India catches up
India, which had ranked behind Bangladesh since 2019, has caught up, rising three positions to share the 130th spot. India's advancement was driven by improvements in health, education, and living standards.
In South Asia, Sri Lanka remains the highest-ranked country in terms of human development, placing 89th with a score of 0.776, followed by the Maldives at 93rd. These are the only two countries in the region in the "High Human Development" category.
Bhutan ranked 126th, followed by Bangladesh and India, and Nepal at 150th, all falling under the "Medium Human Development".
Meanwhile, Pakistan (168th) and Afghanistan (181st) are the only countries in the region classified under "Low Human Development".
Inequality hurting Bangladesh
The 2023 Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) adjusts the HDI for inequality in the distribution of three basic dimensions – inequality in life expectancy, inequality in education and inequality in income across the population.
As per the report, persistent inequality is a major obstacle to human development in Bangladesh. When adjusted for inequality, the country's HDI drops from 0.685 to 0.482, reflecting a 29.64% loss. This marks a slight deterioration from the previous year's 29.56% loss.
Gender equality progress stagnant
The Gender Inequality Index (GII) measures gender inequalities in three key dimensions – reproductive health, empowerment, and labour market.
Bangladesh made no improvement in gender equality as the score remains unchanged from the 2022 index. The country's 2023 GII remains at 0.487, ranking the country 125th out of 172.
Global human development, a 35-year low
Human development progress is experiencing an unprecedented slowdown, with this year's meagre rise in global development being the smallest since 1990, according to UNDP.
"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," said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.
"If 2024's sluggish progress becomes 'the new normal', that 2030 milestone could slip by decades," he added.
The development gap between low and very high HDI countries continues to widen for the fourth consecutive year, reversing a long-term trend of narrowing inequalities. The report identified growing trade tensions, worsening debt crisis, and jobless industrialisation as key obstacles facing low-HDI countries.
