Where do data for HDI come from? What are the criteria for a country to be included in the HDI?
Currently, for various reasons, there still exist many data gaps in even
some very basic areas of human development indicators. While actively
advocating for the improvement of human development data, as a principle and
for practical reasons, HDRO does not collect data directly from countries or
make estimates to fill these data gaps in the Report.
The one exception is the human development index (HDI). The Human Development
Report Office strives to include as many UN member countries as possible in the
HDI. For a country to be included, data ideally should be available from the
relevant international data agencies for all four components of the index (the
primary sources of data are the United Nations Population Division for life
expectancy at birth, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics for the adult literacy
rate and combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary
schools and the World Bank for GDP per capita [PPP US$]). But for a significant
number of countries data are missing for one or more of these components.
Striving to include as many UN member countries as possible and in response to
the desire of countries to be included in the HDI, the Human Development Report
Office makes every effort in these cases to identify other reasonable
estimates, working with international data agencies, the UN Regional
Commissions, national statistical offices and UNDP country offices. In a few cases the Human Development Report Office has attempted to make an estimate in consultation with regional and national statistical offices or other experts.
This information may be reviewed in the 
Reader's Guide HDR 2007/2008 [137 KB].
