PUTRAJAYA (Dec 11): The Malaysian Human Development Index (MHDI), an indicator used to analyse the country's socioeconomic development and assess human development, maintained a score of 0.816 in 2023.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidi, in a statement on Wednesday, said the performance of the MHDI score in 2023 is at a very high level.

The statement was issued following the publication of the MHDI report for 2023 by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) on Wednesday.

The MHDI, modelled after the Human Development Index (HDI) developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is evaluated based on three key dimensions, namely a long and healthy life; access to knowledge; and a good standard of living.

Development levels are categorised into four tiers, below 0.550 (low),  0.550 to 0.699 (moderate), 0.700 to 0.799 (high) and 0.800 and above (very high).

This scoring system indicates that the higher the score, the greater the level of human development within the population.

Mohd Uzir said the dimensional analysis of the MHDI for 2023 shows the highest index score was recorded by the Gross National Income (GNI) Index at 0.872, followed by the Life Expectancy Index at 0.826, and the Education Index at 0.754.

"All indices are categorised as very high in development, except for the Education Index, which falls under the high level of development," he said.

Mohd Uzir said the Life Expectancy Index saw a slight increase of 0.003 points, rising from 0.823 in 2022 to 0.826 in 2023.

This improvement was attributed to a decline in mortality rates compared to 2021 and 2022, which experienced higher deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic, he added.

The Education Index however dropped by 0.003 to 0.754, compared to 0.757 in the previous year, he said, adding that the decrease was driven by a reduction in the expected years of schooling.

Meanwhile, the GNI Index remained stable at 0.872, supported by robust economic performance, including a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 3.6% in 2023, he said.

Regarding the MHDI performance according to states, Mohd Uzir said the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya recorded the highest score at 0.890.

This was followed by the Federal Territory of Labuan (0.843), Penang (0.839), Selangor (0.837), Melaka (0.822), Negeri Sembilan (0.820), Sarawak (0.813) and Pahang (0.801), with a very high level of MHDI.

Seven other states recorded a high-level MHDI, namely Johor (0.796), Perak (0.790), Terengganu (0.782), Kedah (0.770), Perlis (0.770), Sabah (0.766) and Kelantan (0.755).

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