The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has released its 2007-2008 Human Development Index Ratings for 177 countries.

Iceland, Norway, Australia, Canada and Ireland have the 5 highest ratings.
Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Mali have the 5 worst ratings.
How does the USA rank? What is the Human Development Index?

First, what is the human development index and how is it calculated? It’s a composite index that looks at health, knowledge, and standard of living conditions. More specifically, it considers life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rates, school enrollment ratios, and standard of living measured by GDP per person.

It does not measure gender inequality, income inequality, respect for human rights, political freedom and other considerations … but gives a general indication of human welfare.

The Top 20 in the Human Development Index:
1. Iceland - 0.968
2. Norway - 0.968
3. Australia - 0.962
4. Canada - 0.961
5. Ireland - 0.959
6. Sweden - 0.956
7. Switzerland - 0.955
8. Japan - 0.953
9. Netherlands - 0.953
10. France - 0.952
11. Finland - 0.952
12. United States - 0.951
13. Spain - 0.949
14. Denmark - 0.949
15. Austria - 0.949
16. United Kingdom - 0.946
17. Belgium - 0.946
18. Luxembourg - 0.944
19. New Zealand - 0.943
20. Italy - 0.941
21. Hong Kong, China (SAR) - 0.937 
22. Germany - 0.935
23. Israel - 0.932
24. Greece - 0.926
25. Singapore  - 0.922

* The USA rankings for the different factors  were:
31st in world - Life Expectancy
19th in world - School enrollment
3rd in world - GDP per capita
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The lowest 25 ratings of the Human Development Index:
177. Sierra Leone - 0.336 
176. Burkina Faso - 0.370
175. Guinea-Bissau - 0.374 
174. Niger - 0.374
173. Mali - 0.380
172. Mozambique - 0.384 
171. Central African Republic - 0.384 
170. Chad - 0.388
169. Ethiopia - 0.406
168. Congo, Dem. Republic - 0.411 
167. Burundi - 0.413
166. Cote d’Ivoire - 0.432
165. Zambia - 0.434
164. Malawi -  0.437
163. Benin - 0.437
162. Angola - 0.446
161. Rwanda - 0.452
160. Guinea - 0.456
159. Tanzania, U. Rep. of - 0.467 
158. Nigeria - 0.470
157. Eritrea - 0.483
156. Senegal - 0.499
155. Gambia - 0.502
154. Uganda - 0.505
153. Yemen - 0.508