HDI is estimated based on indices such as life expectancy, level of education, per capita income and national revenues which encompasses nearly all the social and economic indices for development.

This year’s HDI highlights the very large gaps in well-being and life chances that continue to divide our increasingly interconnected world. By looking at some of the most fundamental aspects of people’s lives and opportunities it provides a much more complete picture of a country"s development than other indicators, such as GDP per capita.

According to Fars News Agency, Iran’s HDI in 1975 hit 0.571 reaching to the current figure of 0.759 by an 18.8 percent rise within three decades.

The country’s economic growth rate has increased from its minus one percent in 1977 to 6.2 percent in 2007, the report added, putting Iran’s gross domestic production (GDP) of 1977 at $74.806 billion, rose to $189.8 billion in last year.

The GDP per capita a year before the Islamic Revolution was about $2,970, touched $7,967 in 2007, ranking Iran 71st out of 177 developing countries.

The report put the life expectancy of Iranian people in 1977 at less than 57 years which has been increased to 70.2 years in 2007, a more than 13-year rise.

Iran’s imports of products and services in 1977 stood at about $21 billion, ascended to $51 billion in last year, the report mentioned, noting that the exports in the same mentioned years were earned the country $20.7 billion and $75.2 billion respectively.

Literacy rate in Iran witnessed growth from 47 percent in 1977 to 82 percent in 2007.

Each year since 1990 the Human Development Report has published the Human Development Index (HDI) which looks beyond GDP to a broader definition of well-being.

The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income).

The index is not in any sense a comprehensive measure of human development. It does not, for example, include important indicators such as gender or income inequality and more difficult to measure indicators like respect for human rights and political freedoms. What it does provide is a broadened prism for viewing human progress and the complex relationship between income and well-being.

The human development index trends tell an important story in that aspect. Since the mid-1970s almost all regions have been progressively increasing their HDI score. East Asia and South Asia have accelerated progress since 1990.

Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), following a catastrophic decline in the first half of the 1990s, has also recovered to the level before the reversal.

The major exception is sub-Saharan Africa. Since 1990 it has stagnated, partly because of economic reversal but principally because of the catastrophic effect of HIV/AIDS on life expectancy.