The 2010 Human Development Report, released on Thursday by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), shows some progress and major inequalities within and among countries, as well as striking disparities between men and women in a wide rage of development indicators.

Entitled "The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development," the report which was circulated in 10 languages in print and online versions, highlights that there is a multidimensional poverty in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

"The risk of a "double-dip" recession remains, and a full recovery could take years," the UN warned.

UNDP experts added three new indexes that complement the traditional Human Development Index (HDI) and are referred to the Inequality-adjusted HDI, the Gender Inequality Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which were analyzed in 169 countries.

The 20 countries with the highest human development are the richer economies. Norway leads the index followed by Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, France, Israel, Finland, Iceland, Belgium, Denmark and Spain, Efe reported.

Most Latin American countries such as Chile (45), Argentina (46), Uruguay (52), Panama (54), Mexico (56), Costa Rica (62), Peru (63), Brazil (73), Venezuela (75), Ecuador (77) and Colombia (79), recorded a high human development index.