The Report was launched in a public ceremony attended by government officials, the diplomatic community, representatives of upper and lower house of parliament, civil society, private sector, academia and research centers and media.  The ceremony included speeches by H.R.H. Princess Basma Bint Talal, H.E. Mr. Saoud Nsairat, Minister of Transport and Acting Minister of Planning and International Cooperation the official counterpart for UNDP, and Ms. Christine McNab, UNDP Resident Representative.

Focusing on the theme of the Report "International cooperation at a crossroads: Aid, trade and security in an unequal world", UNDP's 16^th annual HDR calls for swift and dramatic changes in global aid, trade and security policies to fulfill the promises to free humanity from extreme poverty.  The Report considers the year 2005 as a crossroads for human development.  Five years after signing the Millennium Declaration, and at the start of the 10-year countdown to the 2015 target date for the Millennium Development Goals, the world's governments are at a crossroads.  If they continue with business as usual, 2005 will be the year in which the pledge of the Millennium Declaration is broken.  If they act now to deliver on their pledges to the world's poorest people, they can make 2005 the start of a decade for development, helping countries to get back on track for achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and forging a new, more equitable pattern of globalization.

One particular feature of HDRs which attracts attention each year is the ranking of countries according to the Human Development Index (HDI).  Derived from three socio-economic factors –life expectancy, adult literacy and per capita income- the HDI (on a scale from 0 -1) is a measure of the quality of life in each country.

All countries included in the HDI are classified into three clusters by achievement in human development: high human development (with an HDI of 0.800 or above), medium human development (0.500-0.799) and low human development (less than 0.500).

The 2005 Report HDI ranks 177 countries for the 2003 figures, the most recent year of available data.  Jordan for the 3^rd year in a row, ranks 90 although its HDI has again progressed slightly from 0.750 last year to 0.753 this year, which places Jordan in the “middle human development” category.

The report also includes the Human Poverty Index (HPI)*, which focuses on the proportion of people below a threshold level in basis dimensions of human development.  The HPI ranking for Jordan is 11^th among 103 countries as compared to 7^th among 95 countries in the 2004 Report.

The Report's Gender Development Index (GDI) ranks Jordan 73 among 140 countries, which shows some improvement from last year's ranking of 76.  The GDI is the gender-related development index using the same indicators as the HDI but also capturing inequalities in achievement between women and men.

The Human Development Report 2005 was delivered to world leaders on 7^th September 2005, through the missions of 191 member states of the United Nations in the preparation for the 2005 World Summit.  On the report, the United Nations Secretary-General said "I commend the ideas and analysis in this report to all citizens, civic organizations, Governments, parliaments and international bodies who are working to achieve the Millennium Development Goals".

* This index excludes the high human development countries

Human Development Report 2005
Down Load Presentation - Arabic - English
Down Load UNDP Statement - Arabic     -   English
Down Load Statement by H.R.H. Princess Basma Bint Talal - Arabic  - English
Down Load Statement by Ministry of Planning & International Cooperation - English
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