Ankara tops Türkiye’s human development index as nation achieves ‘very high’ status

Türkiye’s capital city, Ankara, has achieved the highest human development index (HDI) in the country as of 2022, according to new data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).

The report, covering the 2018-2022 period, reveals that Türkiye’s overall human development index increased by 1.1%, rising from 0.844 in 2018 to 0.854 in 2022. This places Türkiye in the “Very High Development” category, as defined by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Among the index’s components, the life expectancy index decreased by 2.2% to 0.882 compared to 2018, while the education index increased by 3% to 0.807, and the income index rose by 2.6% to 0.875.

Regional disparities

Ankara led the nation with an HDI of 0.891, followed closely by Istanbul and Kocaeli (both at 0.886), Izmir (0.870), and Mugla (0.867).

At the other end of the spectrum, Ağrı recorded the lowest HDI at 0.748, with Şanlıurfa, Van, Mus, and Bitlis rounding out the bottom five provinces.

The most significant improvements between 2018 and 2022 were observed in Kilis with a 4.1% increase, Sirnak with 4%, and Cankırı and Hakkari, both with 3.9% growth. Conversely, four provinces experienced slight declines: Trabzon (-0.2%), Ordu (-0.1%), Rize (-0.03%), and Karabuk (-0.02%).

First provincial-level assessment

The TUIK bulletin noted that human capital adequacy is as important as physical capital in a country’s economic development process. The Human Development Index aims to determine countries’ human capital adequacy and consists of three components: life expectancy, education, and income.

The index is evaluated on a scale from 0 to 1, with scores of 0.8 and above indicating “very high human development,” between 0.7 and 0.8 representing “high human development,” and below 0.55 representing “low human development.”

Previously, Türkiye’s HDI values were produced only at the national level by the UNDP. However, with TUIK’s first publication of average education duration and possible education duration indicators in 2023, Türkiye gained the capability to produce its own HDI measurements.

This marks the first time the index has been published as an official statistic at the provincial level, aimed at guiding national policies beyond the country-wide assessment.