Human development index (HDI) by country

Countries reporting

Highest

0.804 HDI

Seychelles

Lowest

0.297 HDI

Niger

Median

0.4555 HDI

Years covered

1980–2011

Data points

459

What the numbers show

Human development index (HDI) is currently reported for 50 countries. The highest value is 0.804 HDI in Seychelles; the lowest is 0.297 HDI in Niger.

The median across all reporting countries is 0.4555 HDI, and the mean is 0.4829 HDI.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 3.

Over the past decade 49 countries rose and 1 fell. The largest increase was in Sierra Leone (up 42.6%), and the largest decrease in Libya (down 2.8%).

Human development index: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Seychelles	0.804 HDI	2011	up 3.9%	flat
2	Mauritius	0.735 HDI	2011	up 8.7%	rising
3	Libya	0.725 HDI	2011	down 2.8%	flat
4	Algeria	0.711 HDI	2011	up 13.8%	rising
5	Tunisia	0.71 HDI	2011	up 10.6%	rising
6	Gabon	0.679 HDI	2011	up 8.3%	rising
7	Egypt	0.661 HDI	2011	up 11.5%	rising
8	Botswana	0.634 HDI	2011	up 8.0%	rising
9	South Africa	0.625 HDI	2011	up 0.5%	rising
10	Namibia	0.606 HDI	2011	up 7.4%	rising
11	Morocco	0.589 HDI	2011	up 15.0%	rising
12	Ghana	0.553 HDI	2011	up 20.0%	rising
13	Equatorial Guinea	0.551 HDI	2011	up 10.6%	rising
14	Eswatini	0.536 HDI	2011	up 6.8%	flat
15	Congo	0.531 HDI	2011	up 10.2%	rising
16	Sao Tome and Principe	0.522 HDI	2011	up 7.0%	rising
17	Kenya	0.515 HDI	2011	up 15.2%	rising
18	Angola	0.504 HDI	2011	up 34.4%	rising
19	Cameroon	0.492 HDI	2011	up 14.7%	rising
20	Madagascar	0.483 HDI	2011	up 12.9%	rising
21	Senegal	0.471 HDI	2011	up 16.3%	rising
22	Tanzania	0.47 HDI	2011	up 27.4%	rising
23	Nigeria	0.467 HDI	2011	up 7.6%	rising
24	Mauritania	0.464 HDI	2011	up 11.0%	rising
25	Lesotho	0.456 HDI	2011	up 6.3%	flat
26	Togo	0.455 HDI	2011	up 6.8%	rising
27	Uganda	0.454 HDI	2011	up 21.1%	rising
28	Zambia	0.443 HDI	2011	up 17.8%	rising
29	Djibouti	0.442 HDI	2011	up 9.1%	rising
30	Gambia	0.44 HDI	2011	up 22.2%	rising
31	Benin	0.434 HDI	2011	up 14.2%	rising
32	Rwanda	0.429 HDI	2011	up 36.6%	rising
33	Comoros	0.428 HDI	2011	up 0.7%	flat
34	Cote d'Ivoire	0.426 HDI	2011	up 8.7%	rising
35	Sudan	0.419 HDI	2011	up 15.1%	rising
36	Malawi	0.415 HDI	2011	up 17.9%	rising
37	Ethiopia	0.392 HDI	2011	up 42.5%	rising
38	Zimbabwe	0.387 HDI	2011	up 2.9%	falling
39	Liberia	0.381 HDI	2011	up 25.3%	rising
40	Guinea-Bissau	0.364 HDI	2011	up 4.6%	flat
41	Guinea	0.352 HDI	2011	up 6.3%	rising
41	Burundi	0.352 HDI	2011	up 30.4%	rising
43	Sierra Leone	0.348 HDI	2011	up 42.6%	rising
43	Central African Republic	0.348 HDI	2011	up 18.4%	rising
45	Mali	0.347 HDI	2011	up 28.5%	rising
46	Burkina Faso	0.34 HDI	2011	up 13.0%	rising
47	Chad	0.336 HDI	2011	up 15.9%	rising
48	Mozambique	0.322 HDI	2011	up 30.4%	rising
49	Democratic Republic of Congo	0.299 HDI	2011	up 27.8%	flat
50	Niger	0.297 HDI	2011	up 26.9%	rising

About this data

Indicator: Human development index (HDI)
Unit: HDI
Source: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/data/
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 50 places, 459 data points, 1980–2011
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure of human development. It measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. The HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices measuring achievements in each dimension. The HDI is the geometric mean of the three dimension indices and embodies imperfect substitutability across all HDI dimensions. It thus addresses one of the most serious criticisms of the linear aggregation formula, which allowed for perfect substitution across dimensions. Some substitutability is inherent in the definition of any index that increases with the values of its components. Data sources: Life expectancy at birth: UNDESA; Mean years of schooling: Barro and Lee; Expected years of schooling: UNESCO Institute for Statistics; Gross national income (GNI) per capita: World Bank.