According to the annual report by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), France is now 22nd in the 2015 ranking of the best countries to live in.
As every year, UNDP, a UN body responsible for development, publishes its report revealing the level of human development of each country. And it must be said that it is not particularly flattering for France. Indeed, with a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.888, it only rises to the 22nd place out of the 188 ranked countries.
The finding is clear. France, despite a slight increase in its HDI in 2015, has lost two places compared to 2014 and is therefore – for the first time – out of the top 20 countries where it is best to live. Far from being exceptional, this decline is becoming almost a habit. In 1995, France was ranked 2nd with an HDI of 0.946. Over the years, it has significantly lost its luster, falling to 10th in 2005, 14th in 2010, and 20th in 2012.
It should be noted that the HDI is a composite index that combines a country’s GDP per capita with its life expectancy at birth as well as its level of access to education (through the number of schooling years of adults aged 25 and the expected number for children of school entry age).
It is, in a way, an indicator of a population’s well-being. Sometimes contested, it nevertheless remains the reference index to measure a country’s development level.
Although the inequality-adjusted HDI for France rose by 8.7% between 2014 and 2015, it seems that this increase is not on par with those shown by some countries like Japan (12.4%), Israel (13.4%), South Korea (16.4%), or even the United States (17%).
Furthermore, France is now barely above the OECD countries’ average concerning expected years of schooling, and the enrollment rate for youths aged 14 to 19 has tended to decrease in recent years. This is an element that could partly explain its slide to the bottom of the ranking.
France is increasingly distancing itself from the podium of countries with the best human development and now ranks far behind Norway (0.944), which retains its first place ahead of Australia and Switzerland.
Note that Germany, which some like to take as an example, is ranked sixth with an HDI of 0.916.
