The Human Development Index

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them . . . 

You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honor . . 

(Genesis 1 and Psalm 8)

How far, and how unevenly, we have fallen.  The UNDP released the 2010 report this week on the development index, which ranks 169 countries all over the world based on life expectancy at birth, years of education, and income.  Not surprisingly, the most highly developed countries are Norway, Australia, New Zealand, United States, and Ireland. . . then other countries in Europe and Asia.  And also not surprisingly, the bottom of the list clusters in Africa. 

Here are the neediest 25:

# Uganda

# Senegal

# Haiti

# Angola

# Djibouti

# Tanzania (United Republic of)

# Côte d'Ivoire

# Zambia

# Gambia

# Rwanda

# Malawi

# Sudan

# Afghanistan

# Guinea

# Ethiopia

# Sierra Leone

# Central African Republic

# Mali

# Burkina Faso

# Liberia

# Chad

# Guinea-Bissau

# Mozambique

# Burundi

# Niger

# Congo (Democratic Republic of the)

# Zimbabwe

 As people who are called to fight for the restoration of the glory of God's creation, I think this is one pretty good indicator of where we need to be.