The Real Wealth of Nations
The Netherlands is one of the best places to live in the world according to the United Nations Human Development Index. The 20th anniversary edition of the UN report “The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development” was released on 4 November 2010.
The Human Development Index
The Human Development Report programme has published the Human Development Index (HDI) annually since 1990. It was introduced as an alternative to conventional measures of national development, such as level of income and the rate of economic growth.
The HDI represents a push for a broader definition of well-being and provides a composite measure of three basic dimensions of human development: health, education and income. Between 1980 and 2010 Netherlands's HDI rose by 0.4% annually from 0.779 to 0.890 today, which ranks the country 7 out of 169 countries with comparable data.
The HDI trends tell an important story both at the national and regional level and highlight the very large gaps in well-being and life chances that continue to divide our interconnected world.
Gender equality
According to the UN rankings, when taking into account areas such as labour force participation and educational attainment, the Netherlands tops the list of the most gender-equal countries, followed by Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.
Quality of life
The findings reflect the outstanding quality of life in the Netherlands also experienced in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. In a recent Mercer Quality of Life survey of cities worldwide, Amsterdam ranked among the top 20 cities. Amsterdam continues to score high compared to other European capitals, such as Brussels, Berlin, Paris and London.
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