Children visiting the baseball stadium on Children’s Day (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has dropped one spot to 20th in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) latest Human Development Index (HDI) rankings, despite a slight improvement in its overall score, highlighting growing international competition and widening inequality between countries.
According to the 2025 Human Development Report released Tuesday by the UNDP, South Korea scored 0.937 in the HDI for 2023, up from 0.928 the previous year, but still slipped one rank from 19th to 20th among 193 countries and territories evaluated.
The HDI, a composite measure of life expectancy, education, and per capita income, placed Iceland at the top with a score of 0.972, followed closely by Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, and Germany.
South Korea’s life expectancy stood at 84.33 years, with expected years of schooling at 16.62 and mean years of schooling at 12.72. The country’s GNI per capita, measured in purchasing power parity (PPP), was $49,726.
On Children’s Day, May 5, citizens wait in line to enter Lotte World Adventure in Songpa-gu, Seoul. (Yonhap)
The United States, which had fallen behind South Korea in the previous report due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s toll on quality of life, rebounded to 17th place with a score of 0.938, thanks largely to its high income level despite a shorter life expectancy of 79.3 years.
Other top-ranked nations included Sweden, Australia, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Japan climbed one spot to 23rd, while China fell three places to 78th.
At the bottom of the list were South Sudan (0.388), Somalia, and the Central African Republic, reflecting ongoing conflicts and systemic poverty. North Korea was not ranked due to insufficient data.
A student carrying a backpack. South Korean youths are known for experiencing high levels of academic stress. (Yonhap)
The report also revealed sobering global trends. Despite some post-pandemic recovery, the global average HDI stagnated at 0.756, just a slight improvement from 0.752 the year before. UNDP warned that outside of the pandemic years, the pace of human development is now at its slowest since 1990.
UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner cautioned that if this sluggish progress becomes the “new normal,” the world could face deepening divisions, increased instability, and heightened vulnerability to economic and ecological shocks.
The report also included a global survey on artificial intelligence. About 50% of respondents said they believed their jobs could be automated by AI, but 60% also expected new types of jobs to emerge, with only 13% predicting an overall decline in employment.
The UNDP called for bold policy actions to counter development stagnation and reduce the growing disparities between rich and poor nations, warning that traditional development pathways are under pressure and may no longer deliver sustained progress.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
