The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has rated Ghana as a country with medium human development. In its Human Development Report for the year 2002, Ghana was placed at the 76th position out of 84 countries in the medium human development division after Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Botswana, Swaziland and India.

The Human Development Index on which the report was based measured a country's achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income.

The index assessed 173 countries, and put them into three categories of high, medium and low human development. Ghana placed 129th position with Burkina Faso Mozambique, Burundi, Niger and Sierra Leone taking the last five positions.

The report classified 29 African countries, out of 36 as countries with low human development. Norway took the premier position in high human development countries, followed by Sweden, Canada, Belgium, Australia and the United States of America.