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South Korea ranks 26th in the Human Development Index released on Tuesday by the UN Development Program, the same rank as last year's. The index, a part of the Human Development Report 2007, looks beyond GDP to a broader definition of well-being, the world body claims. But the report points out that South Korea is the ninth largest carbon emitter in the world with annual emissions of 465 million tons of carbon dioxide, and an increase rate of emissions more than three times the world average.
A country's HDI is determined based on several factors like life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, combined primary, secondary and tertiary education gross enrollment ratio, per capita income, GDP, and gender-related development. HDI indicates the quality of life and the level of advancement of individual countries.
Iceland topped the list this year. Norway, which had ranked first since 2001, slid to second. In emissions of carbon dioxide as of 2004, the U.S. topped the list (6.046 billion tons), followed by China (5.007 billion tons), Russia (1.524 billion tons) and India (1.342 billion tons).
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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