China retained its rank of 101 out of 187 countries and regions in the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) human development index (HDI) announced Friday, despite a continued increase seen in the statistics used to measure the HDI, which pointed to improved well-being in the world's second largest economy.

The index, updated per annum since 1990, provides a broad gauge of the quality of life across most of the world's countries and regions, judging by indicators including life expectancy, education and purchasing power.

China, which has seen its role in the global economy rising, was found to have increased its HDI for 2012 to 0.699, which placed it "in the medium human development category," led by an array of improvements such as sustained income growth, "impressive gains in eradicating poverty and hunger," and growing quality in education, the UNDP said in a report released Friday in Beijing.

The nation's HDI ranking for 2012, 101 out of 187, was kept unchanged from the previous year, however. During the period between 1980 and 2012, China's HDI value recorded an average annual increase of roughly 1.7 percent, said the report, an indication of ever-increasing well-being in China.

The incremental improvements, however, are yet to be significant enough to position the country to an extent that could match its burgeoning economic clout worldwide.

An important factor impeding China's HDI value was revealed to be inequality, and after taking this into consideration, the HDI of the nation fell to 0.543, a loss of 22.4 percent, according to the UNDP report.

Norway, which has been in the top position in the HDI ranking since 2006, retained its HDI crown in 2012, trailed by Australia and the US, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger shared the bottom position for 2012.

Global Times