BEIJING -- A report jointly released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Tsinghua University on Friday found that most Chinese provinces have reached a high level of human development, while the number of prefecture-level cities attaining high or very high levels of human development has increased significantly.

The report, titled Monitoring China's Human Development: Assessing Economic and Social Progress, as well as Environmental Costs, across Chinese Regions and Cities, was jointly produced by the China Institute for Development Planning at Tsinghua University, the Institute for Circular Economy at Tsinghua University, and UNDP.

The report found that economic growth and improvements in education have been the main drivers of China's human development progress over the past decade.

Yang Yongheng, dean of the China Institute for Development Planning at Tsinghua University, said the report is the latest result of cooperation between Tsinghua University and UNDP in the field of human development, following the release of the China Human Development Report Special Edition in 2019.

Violante di Canossa, head of strategic partnerships and policy at UNDP China, said the study reflects a broader global discussion on the future of development, noting that human development and environmental sustainability can no longer be viewed in isolation, as the two are deeply connected.

According to the research team, the report makes three main contributions. It extends Human Development Index measurement to the prefecture level, offering a more detailed picture of China's human development landscape. It also calculates the Planetary Pressure-Adjusted Human Development Index at the provincial level in China for the first time, taking into account carbon emissions and material footprint. In addition, it provides a systematic, multi-scale assessment of human development at the national, provincial and prefecture levels over the past decade.