New Zealand has been ranked as one of the best countries in the world in a global snapshot of living standards, income and health.

The Human Development Index, an annual global endeavour by the United Nations, ranks countries by living standards and three indicators of development, gross income per capita, life expectancy and education.

New Zealand was jointly ranked alongside Canada as the ninth best.

New Zealand is one of the best, according to a study of global living standards by the United Nations.

The top five countries out of 188 were unchanged from last year's rankings, with Norway in the top spot, followed by Australia, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands.

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Scandinavian and western European countries consistently rank in the top spots for living standards.

The report said New Zealand's life expectancy at birth increased by 8.7 years since 1980, years spent at school increased by almost 12 months and the gross national income per capita increased by 59 per cent between 1980 and 2014.

Life expectancy is 81.8 years, Kiwis expect to spend about 19 years in education and the gross income per person is $48,400 (US$32,689).

"New Zealand's human development index is above the average for countries in the very high human development group and above the average for countries in the OECD.

United Nations human development report office director Selim Jahan and UN development programme administrator Helen Clark at the launch of the 2015 global snapshot.

"From the OECD, countries which are close to New Zealand in rank and to some extent in population size are Australia and Ireland," the report said.

In terms of gender inequality, New Zealand was ranked 32 out of 155 countries, lower than Australia, which was 19th in terms of equality, and Ireland, ranked 21st.

"In New Zealand, 31.4 per cent of parliamentary seats are held by women, and 95 per cent of adult women have reached at least a secondary level of education compared to 95.3 percent of their male counterparts.

"For every 100,000 live births, eight women die from pregnancy related causes; and the adolescent birth rate is 25.3 births per 1,000 women of ages 15 to19.

"Female participation in the labour market is 62 per cent compared to 73.8 for men."

The bottom five countries were all in Africa, with Niger in last place, followed by the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Chad and Burundi.

Money and economic growth did not necessarily translate into development, the report said.

"Between 1990 and 2014, the number of people living in countries with very high values of human development index more than doubled to 1.2 billion people, as 34 countries moved up to this category.

"Likewise, the number of people living in countries with low levels of human development fell by more than 60 per cent from 3.2 billion to 1.2bn as 19 countries moved up and out of the low human development category, including Congo, Ghana and Namibia."

New Zealand loses points in several areas, such as domestic violence rates against women and the amount of time each gender spends on paid work (254 minutes per day for men, 143 minutes for women).

United Nations' development programme administrator and former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, in her speech, said the report highlighted how work meant more than jobs.

"This report puts people rather than economies or economic growth at its centre, by focusing on all kinds of paid and unpaid work from running a home to running a business.

"Work helps people escape from poverty.

"Even though people are healthier and better educated, and a much smaller proportion are living in extreme poverty than ever before, major inequities and challenges continue to prevent some groups of people from entering the work force.

"Today more than 1.5 billion people in developing countries are working in jobs which offer few rights and inadequate protection should they lose their livelihoods."

Clark said the report paid particular attention to the plight of vulnerable women and highlighted that three out of every four hours of unpaid work was done by women, compared to men, who do two of every three hours of paid work.

"Not only are women doing much more unpaid work than men, but when they get paid, they get paid less. Women earn an average of 24 per cent less than their male colleagues worldwide."

Work provided the means to tackle poverty, empower minorities and protect environments, she said.

The top 10 (joint positions for Germany, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand)

1. Norway

2. Australia

3. Switzerland

4. Denmark

5. Netherlands

6. Germany

6. Ireland

8. United States

9. Canada

9. New Zealand