United Nations Development Programme

Global development network of the United Nations

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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.

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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.

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