Iraq Ranks "Medium" in Human Development

By John Lee.

The UN's latest Human Development Report ranks Iraq in 126th place (jointly with Eswatini) out of 170 countries, based on data from 2023:

Human Development Index (HDI)

• Global Rank: Joint-126th

• HDI Score: 0.695

• Category: Medium Human Development

• Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI): 0.534

• HDI Loss due to Inequality: 23.2%

Health & Income

• Life Expectancy at Birth: 72.3 years

• Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (PPP): $12,654

Education

• Expected Years of Schooling: 12.4 years

• Mean Years of Schooling: 6.8 years

• Education Disparity Index: 29.7% (highest among human development indicators)

• Gender Disparity in Education:

  • Girls: 13.7 expected years

  • Boys: 12.6 expected years

  • Adult Women (mean years): 5.2 years

  • Adult Men (mean years): 6.3 years

Income Distribution

• Top 10% Income Share: 27.3%

• Bottom 40% Income Share: 20.5%

• Top 1% Income Share: 15.7%

• Gini Coefficient: 29.5

• Average Income by Gender:

  • Women: $10,750

  • Men: $16,531

  • Women's Earnings as % of Men's: 65%

Gender Development

• Gender Development Index (GDI): 0.964 (Group 2: low gender disparity)

• Female HDI: 0.682

• Male HDI: 0.708

• Female Life Expectancy Advantage: +3.7 years

Click here to download the full report.

(Source: UNDP)