Bangladesh has moved three notches up and ranked 136th place among 189 countries in the Global Human Development Index (HDI) 2017, according to the Human Development Report (HDR) of the United Nations Development Programme.

Looking at 2018 results, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland and Germany lead the HDI ranking of 189 countries and territories, while Niger, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Chad and Burundi have the lowest scores in the HDI’s measurement of national achievements in health, education and income, said the report titled ‘Human Development Indices and Indicators’ released on Friday, reports the BSS.

The overall trend globally is toward continued human development improvements, with many countries moving up through the human development categories: out of the 189 countries for which the HDI is calculated, 59 countries are today in the very high human development group and only 38 countries fall in the low HDI group. Just eight years ago in 2010, the figures were 46 and 49 countries respectively.

UNDP’s Human Development Index has captured human progress, combining information on people’s health, education and income in just one number.

Within South Asia, India’s HDI value is above the average of 0.638 for the region, with Bangladesh and Pakistan, countries with similar population size, being ranked 136 and 150 respectively.

Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical update was released to ensure consistency in reporting on key human development indices and statistics.

It includes an analysis of the state of human development-snapshots of current conditions as well as long-term trends in human development indicators.