Morocco has moved from the «medium human development» category to the «high human development» category in the 2025 Human Development Index, released today by the United Nations Development Programme, ranking 120th globally. The 2025 Human Development Index (HDI), published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), ranks Morocco 120th out of 193 countries, classifying it as a nation with «high human development». Morocco received a score of 0.710 on the index, where a score closer to 1 indicates a higher level of human development. In the previous edition of the report, Morocco also ranked 120th but with a lower score of 0.698, placing it in the «medium human development» category at the time. The year before that, Morocco ranked 123rd. The report, titled «A Matter of Choice: People and the possibilities in the Age of AI», breaks down key indicators for Morocco: life expectancy at birth is 75.3 years; expected years of schooling stand at 15.1, with an average of 6.2 years of completed education; and gross national income (GNI) per capita is $8,653. This year's report explores how artificial intelligence can reinvigorate human development but also warns of weak global progress. Despite the world moving past the exceptional crises of 2020–2021, the expected rise in global human development for 2024 marks the smallest increase since 1990—excluding the crisis years. Inequalities since the health crisis The report points to persistent digital literacy gaps and limited access to digital devices and internet connectivity, even in high-income countries. It also highlights inequalities in AI-driven healthcare research, which is heavily concentrated in a few wealthy nations. Within Africa, Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa are leading contributors to AI research on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer. Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa focus more on diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. Regionally, Morocco ranks 13th among Arab countries. The United Arab Emirates leads the Arab world and ranks 15th globally, followed by Saudi Arabia (37th), Bahrain (38th), Qatar (43rd), Oman (50th), Kuwait (52nd), Algeria (96th), Egypt and Jordan (tied at 100th), Lebanon (102nd), Tunisia (105th), and Libya (115th). Globally, Iceland tops the list, followed by Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Austria. Hong Kong ranks eighth, followed by the Netherlands and Belgium in ninth and tenth place, respectively. The report warns of a widening gap between wealthy and poorer nations. It underscores that traditional pathways to development are under increasing pressure, calling for urgent action to reverse stagnating progress. UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner noted: «For decades, we were on a path to achieve very high human development by 2030. But this slowdown now threatens global progress». He cautioned that «if the slow pace recorded in 2024 becomes the new norm, achieving the 2030 development goals could be delayed by decades—leaving the world more insecure, more unequal, and more vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks». The report also highlights that disparities between countries with low and very high HDI scores have worsened for the fourth year in a row, undermining a long-standing trend toward narrowing global inequality.
