Human suffering: a brief evaluation of the recent decades

The International Human Suffering Index (HSI) employs 10 quality of life indicators to evaluate 141 nations, categorizing them into extreme, high, moderate, and minimal human suffering levels.

The 10 indicators contributing to social welfare are:

  1. Life expectancy
  2. Daily caloric intake
  3. Access to clean drinking water
  4. Infant immunization rates
  5. Secondary school enrollment figures
  6. Per capita gross national product
  7. Inflation rate
  8. Availability of communication technology (e.g., telephones)
  9. Political freedom
  10. Civil rights

Each indicator is scored from 0 to 10, with 10 indicating the highest level of stress for a country, and the maximum cumulative score being 100.

Countries with total scores of 75 or above, indicating extreme human suffering, include 27 nations (20 in Africa, 16 in Asia, and Haiti), accounting for 8% of the global population (432 million people).

Scores between 50 and 74 signify high human suffering and encompass 56 countries (24 in Africa, 16 in Asia, 15 in the Western Hemisphere, and 1 in Oceania), with a population of 3.5 billion (43.2% of the global total). This category has expanded from 44 countries in 1987, which then represented 58% of the world’s population of approximately 5 billion (2.9 billion people).

The moderate suffering category, with scores from 25 to 49, includes 34 countries (9 in Europe, 13 in Asia, 8 in the Western Hemisphere, 2 in Oceania, and 2 in Africa), representing 11.8% of the global population (636 million). This is an increase from 29 countries and 10% of the world population over the last five years.

Minimal suffering is found in 24 countries (17 in Europe, Israel and Japan in Asia; Canada, the US, and Barbados in the Western Hemisphere; and Australia and New Zealand in Oceania), comprising 14.8% of the world population (797 million). Previously, this group included 27 countries with 21% of the global population.

In summary, the data suggests that overall human suffering has escalated since the early 21st century compared to the late 20th century.


Reference: The "International Human Suffering Index": reconsideration of the evidence. | Semantic Scholar

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