What is human poverty index?

The Human Poverty Index (HPI) is used by the United Nations to indicate the standard of living in a specific country. It was first launched in 1990. It measures the amount of deprivation people experience in different countries. According to the measurements of deprivations countries are then ranked according to their HPI. Every year the UN publishes a list of countries, which rank the countries according to their HPI. This list shows which countries has the highest to lowest standards of living. Factors which are taken into consideration when ranking countries include: The probability at birth of not surviving to age 60, People lacking functional literacy skills, Long-term unemployment, and Population below 50% of median income. According to the 2009 list Norway is ranked number 1, followed by Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan. The 10 lowest ranked countries are Guinea-Bissau, Burundi, Chad, Congo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Niger.