United Nations Development Programme
Global development network of the United Nations
Follow United Nations Development Programme on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!
2025 | Publication of Human Development Index (HDI) report ranking countries across different development levels, with comprehensive data for 2023 included in the report. |
February 5 2024 | The Guardian Newspaper reported that UNDP had commissioned an internal management review of the Iraq corruption problems, with several donors requesting an independent review similar to the previous UNDP GEF Russia corruption scandal. |
January 22 2024 | The Guardian Newspaper reported a corruption scandal involving the US$1.88 billion UNDP Funding Facility for Stabilisation in Iraq, revealing 136 corruption allegation cases related to the reconstruction programme. |
2023 | HDI classification introduced: 'very high' (ranks 1-74), 'high' (ranks 75-124), 'medium' (ranks 125-167), and 'low' (ranks 168-193) human development categories. |
2023 | Brazilian federative units ranked by Human Development Index (HDI), with Federal District leading at 0.874, indicating very high human development. |
2023 | United Nations Human Development Report published, ranking 193 UN member states and two additional territories on the Human Development Index (HDI), with countries categorized into four tiers: very high (ranks 1-74), high (ranks 75-124), medium (ranks 125-167), and low (ranks 168-193). |
2023 | Data collection for the 2025 HDI report, capturing human development metrics for countries in the Arab States region. |
2023 | Latest year of HDI data compilation, highlighting continued global development progress with notable growth in regions like East Asia and the Pacific. |
2023 | Publication of the Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) rankings, providing comprehensive data on global human development with consideration of inequality across 169 countries. |
2023 | Data collection for the 2025 HDI report, capturing human development metrics for North American countries. |
2023 | Human Development Report includes comprehensive data for 193 UN member states, Hong Kong SAR, and the State of Palestine, with HDI calculations available for 192 countries and one territory. |
2023 | Most recent Human Development Report showing continued global development, with OECD countries reaching an HDI of 0.916 and the world average at 0.756. |
2023 | Bahrain ranked #2 in HDI among OIC countries with a score of 0.888 in the 2023-2024 report. |
2023 | United Arab Emirates ranked #1 in Human Development Index among Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries with a score of 0.937 in the 2023-2024 report. |
2023 | Saudi Arabia and Qatar tied for #3 in HDI among OIC countries, both with a score of 0.875 in the 2023-2024 report. |
2023 | Published the 2023-2024 Human Development Index report ranking countries in Latin America and the Caribbean by their human development levels. |
June 2023 | Holiang Xu from China becomes the Associate Administrator of UNDP, replacing Usha Rao-Monari from India. |
2022 | End of the reference period for calculating annual HDI growth rates, spanning from 2010 to 2022. |
2022 | The HDI report updated its indicators to include life expectancy at birth, expected years of schooling for children, mean years of schooling for adults, and gross national income per capita. |
2022 | UNDP published the most recent Human Development Index (HDI) ranking for Brazilian federative units, with the Federal District ranking highest with an HDI of 0.822. |
2022 | In the 2023-2024 Human Development Report, Denmark was ranked 1st among European Union countries with a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.951. |
2022 | The Human Development Index (HDI) report for 2023-2024 ranked countries in South America, with Chile leading the region with a score of 0.860, followed by Argentina at 0.849 and Uruguay at 0.830 in the 'Very high human development' category. |
2022 | Data collection for the Human Development Index report, assessing countries' development levels across various metrics. |
2022 | UNDP annual budget reached US$6,737.92 million, highlighting the organization's significant financial resources for global development initiatives. |
June 2022 | BBC Two broadcasts a 90-minute documentary 'The Whistleblowers: Inside the UN', exposing a toxic culture within the UN system, focusing on whistleblower cases including John O'Brien's. |
March 2022 | John O'Brien is fired from UNDP several days after his BBC interview. |
February 2022 | Leaders of Transparency International, Whistleblower International Network, and Government Accountability Project write a public letter to UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner expressing concerns about whistleblower protection. |
2021 | HDI data was compiled for Brazilian states, showing variations in Education, Income, and Longevity indices across different federative units. |
2021 | The Netherlands government withholds 10 million euros in UNDP funding due to unsatisfactory handling of the Russia controversy. |
January 2021 | Independent report 'Systems and Silos' is published, finding 'irregularities' in the project management and suggesting UNDP return its entire management fee to the Global Environment Facility. |
2020 | The UNDP launched the planetary pressures–adjusted Human Development Index (PHDI), which adjusts country scores based on their ecological footprint to incorporate environmental considerations. |
2020 | HDI report captures global development metrics during the COVID-19 pandemic, with most regions showing slight growth or stabilization. |
March 2020 | 12 donor governments write a letter to UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner demanding an independent review of the UNDP's handling of the energy efficiency project in Russia. |
August 2019 | Foreign Policy magazine publishes an article 'Greed and Graft at U.N. Climate Program', exposing the corruption allegations in the UNDP Russia project. |
2018 | The Global Data Lab at Radboud University in the Netherlands introduced the subnational HDI (SHDI), providing developmental data for over 1,600 regions to reflect internal differences within countries. |
2017 | Achim Steiner becomes UNDP Administrator, representing Brazil, succeeding Helen Clark. |
2017 | Final evaluation completed, revealing the UNDP GEF Energy Efficiency Standards and Labels project did not meet its goals and showed 'strong indicators of deliberate misappropriation' of funds. |
2016 | UNDP introduced a detailed explanation of the IHDI, defining it as a measure of human development that accounts for inequality within a country, in contrast to the standard Human Development Index which represents potential maximum development without inequality. |
2016 | UNDP again topped the Aid Transparency Index published by Publish What You Fund, maintaining an excellent score of 93.3%. |
August 2016 | Israel's Shin Bet security agency arrested Wahid Abdallah al Bursh, a UNDP Palestinian engineer, accusing him of assisting Hamas by misusing UNDP resources and influencing reconstruction fund allocation in Gaza. |
2015 | Key year marking substantial HDI improvements, with most regions showing continued positive growth trajectories. |
2015 | Publication of the Human Development Report reflecting data from 2014, highlighting Brazil's rapid advancement in human development over two decades. |
2015 | The Innovation Facility invested in 62 initiatives across 45 countries to support achievement of 16 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and fostered innovation labs across all five global regions. |
2015 | UNDP topped the Aid Transparency Index published by Publish What You Fund, achieving an excellent score of 93.3%. |
2014 | Brazil ranks 75th among 188 countries in the Human Development Report, with an HDI value of 0.755. |
2014 | Dmitry Ershov claims he was pushed out of his UN job after raising concerns about procurement irregularities and project conflicts of interest. |
2014 | Wahid Abdallah al Bursh was reportedly recruited by Hamas while working for UNDP, allegedly using organizational resources for the group's activities. |
2014 | UNDP established the Innovation Facility with support from the Government of Denmark, creating a dedicated funding mechanism to nurture promising development interventions across global development networks. |
2014 | UNDP launched its Strategic Plan for 2014-2017, which incorporated recommendations from the 2013 poverty reduction evaluation, aiming to enhance its approach to supporting developing countries in poverty reduction efforts. |
2013 | Release of the latest Human Development Atlas in Brazil, in partnership with the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) and the João Pinheiro Foundation (FJP), showing an average HDI growth of 47.5% across Brazilian federative units from 1991 to 2010. |
We are only showing the most recent entries for this topic. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles List of Brazilian federative units by Human Development Index, List of countries by Human Development Index, List of countries by inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, United Nations Development Programme & List of countries by Human Development Index by region, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.