List of countries by Human Development Index

World map indicating Human Development Index (2007) 0.950 and over 0.900–0.949 0.850–0.899 0.800–0.849 0.750–0.799 0.700–0.749 0.650–0.699 0.600–0.649 0.550–0.599 0.500–0.549 0.450–0.499 0.400–0.449 0.350–0.399 under 0.350 not available

(Color-blind compliant map) For red-green color vision problems.

This is a list of countries by Human Development Index as included in the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Report 2007/2008, compiled on the basis of 2005 data and published on November 27, 2007. It covers 175 U.N. member countries (out of 192), along with: Hong Kong (SAR of China) and PA-governed territories. 17 U.N. member countries are not included due to lack of data. The average HDI of regions of the World and groups of countries are also included for comparison. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, and standards of living for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used to distinguish whether the country is a developed, a developing, or an under-developed country, and also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life. The index was developed in 1990 by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and Indian economist Amartya Sen.[1]

Countries fall into three broad categories based on their HDI: high, medium, and low human development.

1 Complete list of countries
2 List of countries by Continents
3 HDI by Regions & Groups
4 Unavailable data
5 Notes
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
9 Headline text

Complete list of countries

▲ = increase.
▬ = steady.
▼ = decrease.
Similar HDI values in the current list do not lead to ranking ties, since the HDI rank is actually determined using HDI values to the sixth decimal point.
The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed (up or down) since the 2004 survey.

High

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) 1 ▲ (1) Iceland▲ 0.968 2 ▼ (1) Norway▲ 0.968 3 ▬ (0) Australia▲ 0.962 4 ▲ (2) Canada▲ 0.961 5 ▼ (1) Ireland▲ 0.959 6 ▼ (1) Sweden▲ 0.956 7 ▲ (2) Switzerland▲ 0.955 8 ▼ (1) Japan▲ 0.953 9 ▲ (1) Netherlands▲ 0.953 10 ▲ (6) France▲ 0.952 11 ▬ (0) Finland▲ 0.952 12 ▼ (4) United States▲ 0.951 13 ▲ (6) Spain▲ 0.949 14 ▲ (1) Denmark▲ 0.949 15 ▼ (1) Austria▲ 0.948 16 ▲ (2) United Kingdom▲ 0.946 17 ▼ (4) Belgium▲ 0.946 18 ▼ (6) Luxembourg▼ 0.944 19 ▲ (1) New Zealand▲ 0.943 20 ▼ (3) Italy▲ 0.941 21 ▲ (1) Hong Kong▲ 0.937 22 ▼ (1) Germany▲ 0.935 23 ▬ (0) Israel▲ 0.932 24 ▬ (0) Greece▲ 0.926 25 ▬ (0) Singapore▲ 0.922 26 ▬ (0) South Korea▲ 0.921 27 ▬ (0) Slovenia▲ 0.917 28 ▲ (1) Cyprus▬ 0.903 29 ▼ (1) Portugal▼ 0.897 30 ▲ (4) Brunei▲ 0.894 31 ▬ (0) Barbados▲ 0.892 32 ▼ (2) Czech Republic▲ 0.891 33 ▬ (0) Kuwait▲ 0.891 34 ▼ (2) Malta▲ 0.878 35 ▲ (11) Qatar▲ 0.875

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) 36 ▼ (1) Hungary▲ 0.874 37 ▬ (0) Poland▲ 0.870 38 ▼ (2) Argentina▲ 0.869 39 ▲ (10) United Arab Emirates▲ 0.868 40 ▼ (2) Chile▲ 0.867 41 ▼ (2) Bahrain▲ 0.866 42 ▬ (0) Slovakia▲ 0.863 43 ▼ (2) Lithuania▲ 0.862 44 ▼ (4) Estonia▲ 0.860 45 ▬ (0) Latvia▲ 0.855 46 ▼ (3) Uruguay▲ 0.852 47 ▼ (3) Croatia▲ 0.850 48 ▬ (0) Costa Rica▲ 0.846 49 ▲ (3) Bahamas▲ 0.845 50 ▼ (3) Seychelles▲ 0.843 51 ▼ (1) Cuba▲ 0.838 52 ▲ (1) Mexico▲ 0.829 53 ▲ (1) Bulgaria▲ 0.824 54 ▼ (3) Saint Kitts and Nevis▼ 0.821 55 ▬ (0) Tonga▲ 0.819 56 ▲ (8) Libya▲ 0.818 57 ▲ (2) Antigua and Barbuda▲ 0.815 58 ▼ (2) Oman▲ 0.814 59 ▼ (2) Trinidad and Tobago▲ 0.814 60 ▬ (0) Romania▲ 0.813 61 ▲ (15) Saudi Arabia▲ 0.812 62 ▼ (4) Panama▲ 0.812 63 ▼ (2) Malaysia▲ 0.811 64 ▲ (3) Belarus▲ 0.804 65 ▼ (2) Mauritius▲ 0.804 66 ▼ (4) Bosnia and Herzegovina▲ 0.803 67 ▼ (2) Russia▲ 0.802 68 ▲ (5) Albania▲ 0.801 69 ▼ (3) FYR Macedonia▲ 0.801 70 ▼ (1) Brazil▲ 0.800

Medium

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) 71 ▼ (3) Dominica▲ 0.798 72 ▼ (1) Saint Lucia▲ 0.795 73 ▲ (6) Kazakhstan▲ 0.794 74 ▼ (2) Venezuela▲ 0.792 75 ▼ (5) Colombia▲ 0.791 76 ▲ (1) Ukraine▲ 0.788 77 ▼ (2) Samoa▲ 0.785 78 ▼ (4) Thailand▼ 0.781 79 ▲ (15) Dominican Republic▲ 0.779 80 ▲ (15) Belize▲ 0.778 81 ▬ (0) People's Republic of China [2]▲ 0.777 82 ▲ (3) Grenada▲ 0.777 83 ▼ (3) Armenia▲ 0.775 84 ▲ (8) Turkey▲ 0.775 85 ▲ (4) Suriname▲ 0.774 86 ▬ (0) Jordan▲ 0.773 87 ▼ (5) Peru▲ 0.773 88 ▼ (10) Lebanon▼ 0.772 89 ▼ (6) Ecuador▲ 0.772 90 ▼ (6) Philippines▲ 0.771 91 ▼ (4) Tunisia▲ 0.766 92 ▼ (2) Fiji▲ 0.762 93 ▼ (5) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines▲ 0.761 94 ▲ (2) Iran▲ 0.759 95 ▼ (4) Paraguay▼ 0.755 96 ▲ (1) Georgia▲ 0.754 97 ▲ (6) Guyana▲ 0.750 98 ▲ (1) Azerbaijan▲ 0.746 99 ▼ (6) Sri Lanka▼ 0.743 100 ▼ (2) Maldives▲ 0.741 101 ▲ (3) Jamaica▲ 0.736 102 ▲ (4) Cape Verde▲ 0.736 103 ▼ (2) El Salvador▲ 0.735 104 ▼ (2) Algeria▲ 0.733 105 ▲ (4) Vietnam▲ 0.733 106 ▼ (6) Palestinian Authority▼ 0.731 107 ▲ (1) Indonesia▲ 0.728 108 ▼ (1) Syria▲ 0.724 109 ▼ (4) Turkmenistan▼ 0.713 110 ▲ (2) Nicaragua▲ 0.710 111 ▲ (3) Moldova▲ 0.708 112 ▼ (1) Egypt▲ 0.708

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) 113 ▬ (0) Uzbekistan▲ 0.702 114 ▲ (2) Mongolia▲ 0.700 115 ▲ (2) Honduras▲ 0.700 116 ▼ (6) Kyrgyzstan▼ 0.696 117 ▼ (2) Bolivia▲ 0.695 118 ▬ (0) Guatemala▲ 0.689 119 ▲ (5) Gabon▲ 0.677 120 ▼ (1) Vanuatu▲ 0.674 121 ▬ (0) South Africa▲ 0.674 122 ▬ (0) Tajikistan▲ 0.673 123 ▲ (4) São Tomé and Príncipe▲ 0.654 124 ▲ (7) Botswana▲ 0.654 125 ▬ (0) Namibia▲ 0.650 126 ▼ (3) Morocco▲ 0.646 127 ▼ (7) Equatorial Guinea▼ 0.642 128 ▼ (2) India▲ 0.619 129 ▼ (1) Solomon Islands▲ 0.602 130 ▲ (3) Laos▲ 0.601 131 ▼ (2) Cambodia▲ 0.598 132 ▼ (2) Myanmar▲ 0.583 133 ▲ (2) Bhutan▲ 0.579 134 ▼ (2) Comoros▲ 0.561 135 ▲ (1) Ghana▲ 0.553 136 ▼ (2) Pakistan▲ 0.551 137 ▲ (16) Mauritania▲ 0.550 138 ▲ (11) Lesotho▲ 0.549 139 ▲ (1) Republic of the Congo [3]▲ 0.548 140 ▼ (3) Bangladesh▲ 0.547 141 ▲ (5) Swaziland▲ 0.547 142 ▼ (4) Nepal▲ 0.534 143 ▬ (0) Madagascar▲ 0.533 144 ▬ (0) Cameroon▲ 0.532 145 ▼ (6) Papua New Guinea▲ 0.530 146 ▲ (8) Haiti▲ 0.529 147 ▼ (6) Sudan▲ 0.526 148 ▲ (4) Kenya▲ 0.521 149 ▼ (1) Djibouti▲ 0.516 150 ▼ (8) Timor-Leste(East Timor) ▲ 0.514 151 ▬ (0) Zimbabwe▲ 0.513 152 ▼ (5) Togo▲ 0.512 153 ▼ (3) Yemen▲ 0.508 154 ▼ (9) Uganda▲ 0.505 155 ▬ (0) Gambia▲ 0.502

Low

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) 156 ▬ (0) Senegal▲ 0.499 157 ▬ (0) Eritrea▲ 0.483 158 ▲ (1) Nigeria▲ 0.470 159 ▲ (3) Tanzania▲ 0.467 160 ▬ (0) Guinea▲ 0.456 161 ▼ (3) Rwanda▲ 0.452 162 ▼ (1) Angola▲ 0.446 163 ▬ (0) Benin▲ 0.437 164 ▲ (2) Malawi▲ 0.437 165 ▬ (0) Zambia▲ 0.434 166 ▼ (2) Côte d'Ivoire▲ 0.432

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) 167 ▲ (2) Burundi▲ 0.413 168 ▼ (1) Democratic Republic of the Congo [4]▲ 0.411 169 ▲ (1) Ethiopia▲ 0.406 170 ▲ (1) Chad▲ 0.388 171 ▲ (1) Central African Republic▲ 0.384 172 ▼ (4) Mozambique▼ 0.384 173 ▲ (2) Mali▲ 0.380 174 ▲ (3) Niger▲ 0.374 175 ▼ (2) Guinea-Bissau▲ 0.374 176 ▼ (2) Burkina Faso▲ 0.370 177 ▼ (1) Sierra Leone▲ 0.336

Not calculated by the UN

Country HDI Year of publication Republic of China (Taiwan)[5]0.932 2007 (compiled on the basis of 2005 data) Macau [6]0.909 2006 (compiled on the basis of 2004 data) Montenegro [7]0.799 2005 (compiled on the basis of 2004 data) Serbia [8]na na

List of countries by Continents

Americas

10 highest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) High 1 ▬ (0) Canada▲ 0.961 2 ▬ (0) United States▲ 0.951 3 ▬ (0) Barbados▲ 0.892 4 ▬ (0) Argentina▲ 0.869 5 ▬ (0) Chile▲ 0.867 6 ▬ (0) Uruguay▲ 0.852 7 ▬ (0) Costa Rica▲ 0.846 8 ▲ (2) Bahamas▲ 0.845 9 ▼ (1) Cuba▲ 0.838 10 ▲ (1) Mexico▲ 0.829

10 lowest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) Medium 1 ▬ (0) Haiti▲ 0.529 2 ▬ (0) Guatemala▲ 0.689 3 ▼ (1) Bolivia▲ 0.695 4 ▲ (1) Honduras▲ 0.700 5 ▬ (0) Nicaragua▲ 0.710 6 ▼ (2) El Salvador▲ 0.735 7 ▲ (1) Jamaica▲ 0.736 8 ▲ (1) Guyana▲ 0.750 9 ▼ (2) Paraguay▼ 0.755 10 ▼ (2) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines▲ 0.761

Africa

10 highest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) High 1 ▬ (0) Seychelles▲ 0.843 2 ▲ (1) Libya▲ 0.818 3 ▼ (1) Mauritius▲ 0.804 Medium 4 ▬ (0) Tunisia▲ 0.766 5 ▲ (1) Cape Verde▲ 0.736 6 ▼ (1) Algeria▲ 0.733 7 ▬ (0) Egypt▲ 0.708 8 ▲ (3) Gabon▲ 0.677 9 ▬ (0) South Africa▲ 0.674 10 ▲ (3) São Tomé and Príncipe▲ 0.654

10 lowest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) Low 1 ▼ (1) Sierra Leone▲ 0.336 2 ▼ (2) Burkina Faso▲ 0.370 3 ▼ (2) Guinea-Bissau▲ 0.374 4 ▲ (3) Niger▲ 0.374 5 ▲ (2) Mali▲ 0.380 6 ▼ (4) Mozambique▼ 0.384 7 ▲ (1) Central African Republic▲ 0.384 8 ▲ (1) Chad▲ 0.388 9 ▲ (1) Ethiopia▲ 0.406 10 ▼ (1) Democratic Republic of the Congo▲ 0.411

Asia and Pacific

10 highest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) High 1 ▬ (0) Australia▲ 0.962 2 ▬ (0) Japan▲ 0.953 3 ▬ (0) New Zealand▲ 0.943 4 ▬ (0) Hong Kong▲ 0.937 5 ▬ (0) Israel▲ 0.932 6 ▬ (0) Singapore▲ 0.922 7 ▬ (0) South Korea▲ 0.921 8 ▲ (1) Brunei▲ 0.894 9 ▼ (1) Kuwait▲ 0.891 10 ▲ (4) Qatar▲ 0.875

10 lowest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) Medium 1 ▬ (0) Yemen▲ 0.508 2 ▬ (0) East Timor▲ 0.514 3 ▬ (0) Papua New Guinea▲ 0.530 4 ▬ (0) Nepal▲ 0.534 5 ▬ (0) Bangladesh▲ 0.547 6 ▼ (1) Pakistan▲ 0.551 7 ▲ (1) Bhutan▲ 0.579 8 ▼ (1) Myanmar▲ 0.583 9 ▼ (1) Cambodia▲ 0.598 10 ▲ (2) Laos▲ 0.601

Europe

10 highest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) High 1 ▲ (1) Iceland▲ 0.968 2 ▼ (1) Norway▲ 0.968 3 ▬ (0) Ireland▲ 0.959 4 ▬ (0) Sweden▲ 0.956 5 ▬ (0) Switzerland▲ 0.955 6 ▬ (0) Netherlands▲ 0.953 7 ▲ (5) France▲ 0.952 8 ▼ (1) Finland▲ 0.952 9 ▲ (6) Spain▲ 0.949 10 ▲ (1) Denmark▲ 0.949

10 lowest HDIs[9]

Rank Country HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) Medium 1 ▬ (0) Moldova▲ 0.708 2 ▬ (0) Ukraine▲ 0.788 High 3 ▼ (2) FYR Macedonia▲ 0.801 4 ▲ (1) Albania▲ 0.801 5 ▼ (2) Bosnia and Herzegovina▲ 0.803 6 ▲ (2) Belarus▲ 0.804 7 ▼ (1) Romania▲ 0.813 8 ▼ (1) Bulgaria▲ 0.824 9 ▼ (2) Croatia▲ 0.850 10 ▬ (0) Latvia▲ 0.855

HDI by Regions & Groups

Rank Region or Group HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) High HDI 1 ▬ (0) OECD▼ 0.916 2 ▬ (0) Centraland Eastern Europeand the CIS▲ 0.808 3 ▬ (0) Latin Americaand the Caribbean▲ 0.803 Medium HDI 4 ▬ (0) East Asia and the Pacific▲ 0.771 - - World▲ 0.743 5 ▬ (0) ASEAN▲ 0.742 6 ▬ (0) Arab states▲ 0.699 7 ▬ (0) Developing countries▲ 0.691 8 ▬ (0) South Asia▲ 0.611 Low HDI 9 ▬ (0) Sub-Saharan Africa▲ 0.493 10 ▬ (0) Least Developed Countries▲ 0.488

Rank Group HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) 2005 data (published in 2007) Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) - - High Human Development ▼ 0.897 - - Medium Human Development ▼ 0.698 - - Low Human Development ▲ 0.436 - - High income ▼ 0.936 - - Middle income ▲ 0.776 - - Low income ▲ 0.570

Unavailable data

Year Country HDI
in the UN last report 2005 (published in 2007) Year of the last country report - (1997) Monaco▬ 0.946 - (1997) Liechtenstein▬ 0.946 - (1997) Andorra▬ 0.944 - (1997) San Marino▬ 0.944 - (1998) Puerto Rico▬ 0.942 - (1998) Greenland▬ 0.927 - (1998) Palau▬ 0.861 - (1995) North Korea▬ 0.766 - (1998) Nauru▬ 0.663

Year Country HDI
in the UN last report 2005 (published in 2007) Year of the last country report - (1998) Tuvalu▬ 0.583 - (1998) Micronesia▬ 0.569 - (1999) Iraq▬ 0.567 - (1998) Marshall Islands▬ 0.563 - (1998) Kiribati▬ 0.515 - (1993) Liberia▬ 0.311 - (1993) Afghanistan▬ 0.229 - (1993) Somalia▬ 0.221 - - Vatican CityN/A

Notes

^ About HDRO. United Nations Development Program (2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-30.
^ Includes data for mainland People's Republic of China; excludes Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) (separately ranked), Macau SAR and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
^ Also known as Congo-Brazzaville and previously simply as Congo.
^ Also known as Congo-Kinshasa.
^ As the UN does not recognize the Republic of China (ROC) as a state, the HDI report does not include data for "Taiwan, Province of China" (the term used by the UN to refer to the domain of the Republic of China; see Political status of Taiwan). The ROC's government calculated its HDI as of 2005 to be 0.932 based on the following data: life expectancy of 77.4 years; adult literacy rate of 97.3%; combined gross enrollment rate of 100%; and GDP per capita (PPP) of US$28,552. If it were included in the UN's HDI figures as of 2005, the ROC would rank 23rd as same as Israel. National Statistics, R.O.C. (Taiwan) (Chinese). Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (2006). Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
^ The UN did not calculate the HDI of Macau. The government of Macau calculates its own HDI as of 2004 as 0.909. If it were included in the UN's HDI figures as of 2004, Macau would rank 25th (behind Greece and in front of Singapore). 2006 Macao in Figures (English). Statistics and Census Service, Macau SAR (2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-02.
^ The Institute for Strategic Studies and Prognoses (ISSP), in Podgorica, issued a study on Montenegro in collaboration with the UNDP. Human development report for Montenegro.
^ The HDI of Serbia was not calculated by UNDP. 2007/2008 Report Serbia and Montenegro.
^ This list includes territories located wholly in Europe, including Belarus (which is not a member of the Council of Europe). This list does not include Asian members of the council of Europe, e.g. Armenia, nor transcontinental territories - located partly in Asia, e.g. Kazakhstan (which is not a member of the Council of Europe), Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russian Federation, and Turkey (members of the Council of Europe).