Africa-Press – Angola. Angola rose two places in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) ranking, moving from 150th to 148th position.
Sub-Saharan Africa has consistently been the region with the lowest HDI in the world, and for the fourth year in a row, inequality between countries with low and very high HDIs continues to grow, reversing a long-term trend of narrowing these disparities.
Of the nine members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), six rose in the UN Human Development Index (HDI) ranking, with Portugal remaining in the highest category and Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique in the lowest.
The Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows that, among Portuguese-speaking countries, only Cape Verde dropped in the HDI ranking, going from position 131 to 135, in an assessment that focuses on the countries’ performance in 2023.
Portugal is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the “very high” Human Development category, Brazil is the only one in “high”, and Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola, and East Timor are on the list of countries that recorded “medium” Human Development.
Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique are the CPLP members included in the “low” Human Development category, which is closed by South Sudan in last place (193rd).
The document reveals a stagnation in the HDI in all regions of the world, while showing that Artificial Intelligence (AI) “can reactivate development”.
Instead of a sustained recovery after the exceptional crisis period of 2020-2021, the report reveals “surprisingly weak” progress.
Excluding the years of crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, “the global growth in human development projected this year is the lowest since 1990,” says the document, also indicating an increase in inequalities between rich and poor countries.
The data is part of the 2025 Human Development Report – “A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” -, which analyzes progress in a variety of indicators known as the Human Development Index, which encompasses achievements in health, education and income levels.
“In the face of this turbulent global landscape, we urgently need to explore new ways to drive development,” said UNDP Global Chief Achim Steiner, pointing to the potential of AI: “While AI is not a silver bullet, the choices we make can reignite human development and open up new pathways and possibilities.”
The availability of data for AI development in a country depends on several factors, such as data availability, which varies considerably between countries and regions.
According to the report, sub-Saharan Africa is making progress in data availability and infrastructure, but still has major gaps.
These disparities stem from differences in governments’ commitment to open data, data management capabilities and access to technology.
As of March 2024, the United States hosted about half of global data centers, reflecting the concentration of this infrastructure.
“While cloud computing loosens the link between the physical location of data centers and the use of data, only 5% of Africa’s AI talent has access to computing power for complex AI tasks,” the report said.
However, the democratization of AI is already underway, the document says, highlighting that around one in five respondents reported already using Artificial Intelligence.
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