List of subnational entities with the highest and lowest Human Development Index

The following list shows the subnational entities and regions with the highest and lowest Human Development Index (HDI) in the world and on different continents. The HDI is a summary measure of human development that considers three dimensions: health, education, and standard of living. It is calculated by taking the geometric mean of three normalized indicators: life expectancy at birth, mean and expected years of schooling, and gross national income per capita. The HDI ranges from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating higher human development. The HDI itself was created by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq in 1990, and was further used by the UNDP to measure the country's development in its annual Human Development Reports.The index was initially calculated at the country level. The Global Data Lab at Radboud University in the Netherlands launched a subnational HDI (SHDI) in 2018, which covers around 1,800 regions in over 160 countries to better reflect the differences within countries.^[1][2] Global Data Lab also provides the Subnational Human the Subnational Gender Development Index (SGDI) and data on income, years of education and life expectancy on the subnational level. The SHDI and SGDI are based on the UNDP's official HDI and GDI, but they use subnational data in addition to national data.

World map of subnational HDI (2018)

Regions with the highest and lowest HDI

25 highest HDIs
The top 25 regions with the highest HDI in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Very high human development
1	Zurich	Switzerland	0.994
2	London	United Kingdom	0.984
3	Oslo and Akershus	Norway	0.982
4	Australian Capital Territory	Australia	0.976
	Stockholm County	Sweden
6	Hamburg	Germany	0.975
7	Lake Geneva region	Switzerland	0.973
8	Capital Region of Denmark	Denmark	0.970
	Central Slovenia	Slovenia
10	Western Australia	Australia	0.969
	Wellington Region	New Zealand
12	Auckland Region	New Zealand	0.968
13	Berlin	Germany	0.967
	Utrecht province	Netherlands
15	Prague	Czech Republic	0.965
16	North Holland	Netherlands	0.964
	Ticino	Switzerland
	Northwestern Switzerland	Switzerland
19	Baden-Württemberg	Germany	0.963
	Western Norway	Norway
21	Capital Area (Gyeonggi, Seoul, Incheon)	South Korea	0.961
	Helsinki-Uusimaa Region	Finland
	Trøndelag	Norway
	Central Switzerland	Switzerland
25	Brussels	Belgium	0.960

25 lowest HDIs
The top 25 regions with the lowest HDI in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Low human development
1	Middle Juba	Somalia	0.232
2	Zone 2 (Borkou, Ennedi, Tibesti, Kanem, Barh El Gazel, Lac)	Chad	0.270
3	Galguduud	Somalia	0.279
4	Zone 5 (Chari-Baguirmi, Dababa, Baguirmi, Hadjer-Lamis)	Chad	0.286
5	Hiran	Somalia	0.291
6	Zone 4 (Ouaddai, Assoungha, Sila, Wadi Fira)	Chad	0.292
7	Bay	Somalia	0.294
8	Bakool	Somalia	0.295
9	Lower Juba	Somalia	0.300
10	Sahel Region	Burkina Faso	0.305
	Northern Bahr el Ghazal	South Sudan
12	Warrap	South Sudan	0.308
13	Middle Shabelle	Somalia	0.315
14	Timbuktu Region	Mali	0.319
15	Lower Shabelle	Somalia	0.323
	Togdheer	Somalia
17	Southeastern Region (Basse-Kotto, Mbomou, Haut-Mbomou)	Central African Republic	0.326
18	Gedo	Somalia	0.330
19	Jonglei State	South Sudan	0.331
20	Zone 3 (Guera, Batha, Salamat)	Chad	0.336
21	Kuntaur	Gambia	0.337
22	Sool	Somalia	0.338
23	Unity State	South Sudan	0.340
24	Mopti Region	Mali	0.341
25	Lakes State	South Sudan	0.344

Africa

Top 10 highest

The 10 regions with the highest HDI in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Very high human development
1	South (Grand Port, Savanne, Plaines Wilhems, Rivière Noire)	Mauritius	0.805
High human development
2	Port Said Governorate	Egypt	0.795
3	North (Port Louis, Pamplemousses, Rivière du Rempart, Flacq, Moka)	Mauritius	0.791
4	South-East District	Botswana	0.787
5	Annobón, Bioko	Equatorial Guinea	0.782
6	Suez Governorate	Egypt	0.781
7	Alexandria Governorate	Egypt	0.777
	Cairo Governorate	Egypt	0.777
	Grand Tunis (Ariana, Tunis, Ben Arous, Manouba)	Tunisia	0.777
10	North Center (Algiers, Blida, Boumerdès, Tipaza, Bouïra, Médéa, Tizi Ouzou, Béjaïa, Chlef, Aïn Defla)	Algeria	0.766

Top 10 lowest

The 10 regions with the lowest HDI in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Low human development
1	Middle Juba	Somalia	0.232
2	Zone 2 (Borkou, Ennedi, Tibesti, Kanem, Barh El Gazel, Lac)	Chad	0.270
3	Galguduud	Somalia	0.279
4	Zone 5 (Chari-Baguirmi, Dababa, Baguirmi, Hadjer-Lamis)	Chad	0.286
5	Hiran	Somalia	0.291
6	Zone 4 (Ouaddai, Assoungha, Sila, Wadi Fira)	Chad	0.292
7	Bay	Somalia	0.294
8	Bakool	Somalia	0.295
9	Lower Juba	Somalia	0.300
10	Sahel Region	Burkina Faso	0.305
	Northern Bahr el Ghazal	South Sudan

Asia

Top 10 highest

The 10 regions with the highest HDI in Asia in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Very high human development
1	Capital Area (Gyeonggi, Seoul, Incheon)	South Korea	0.961
2	Southern Kantō (Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano)	Japan	0.946
3	Gyeongnam (South Gyeongsang, Busan, Ulsan)	South Korea	0.926
4	Kansai (Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama)	Japan	0.922
5	Tōkai (Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie)	Japan	0.920
6	Chūgoku (Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi)	Japan	0.916
7	Chungcheong (North Chungcheong, South Chungcheong, Daejeon, Sejong)	South Korea	0.913
8	Jeolla (North Jeolla, South Jeolla, Gwangju)	South Korea	0.910
9	Northern Kantō (Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma)	Japan	0.908
10	Gangwon	South Korea	0.906

Top 10 lowest

The 10 regions with the lowest HDI in Asia in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Low human development
1	Hajjah, Sa'dah, 'Amran	Yemen	0.383
2	Al Bayda, Dhamar, Raymah	Yemen	0.381
3	Al Hudaydah, Al Mahwit	Yemen	0.386
4	South (Uruzgan, Helmand, Zabul, Nimroz, Kandahar)	Afghanistan	0.391
5	Ibb	Yemen	0.425
6	North East (Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan, Kunduz)	Afghanistan	0.429
7	West (Ghor, Herat, Badghis, Farah)	Afghanistan	0.433
8	East (Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman, Nuristan)	Afghanistan	0.442
9	Taiz	Yemen	0.452
10	Former Federally Administered Tribal Areas	Pakistan	0.453

Europe

Top 10 highest

The 10 regions with the highest HDI in Europe in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Very high human development
1	Zürich Canton	Switzerland	0.994
2	Greater London	United Kingdom	0.984
3	Oslo and Akershus	Norway	0.982
4	Stockholm County	Sweden	0.976
5	Hamburg	Germany	0.975
6	Lake Geneva region	Switzerland	0.973
7	Capital Region of Denmark	Denmark	0.970
	Central Slovenia	Slovenia
9	Berlin	Germany	0.967
	Utrecht province	Netherlands

Top 10 lowest

The 10 regions with the lowest HDI in Europe in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
High human development
1	Southeastern Statistical Region	North Macedonia	0.718
2	Western Ukraine	Ukraine	0.722
3	Central Ukraine	Ukraine	0.727
4	North Ukraine	Ukraine	0.737
5	Central Development Region	Republic of Moldova	0.738
	Northeastern Statistical Region	North Macedonia
7	South Ukraine	Ukraine	0.740
8	Eastern Ukraine	Ukraine	0.741
9	Prizren district	Kosovo	0.742
	Northern Development Region	Republic of Moldova

North America

Top 10 highest

The 10 regions with the highest HDI in North America in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Very high human development
1	Massachusetts	United States	0.956
	New Hampshire	United States
3	Colorado	United States	0.952
	Washington	United States
5	Minnesota	United States	0.951
6	Connecticut	United States	0.950
7	Alberta	Canada	0.947
	District of Columbia	United States
	Hawaii	United States
10	British Columbia	Canada	0.946

Top 10 lowest

The 10 regions with the lowest HDI in North America in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Low human development
1	Centre	Haiti	0.502
2	Artibonite	Haiti	0.518
3	Grand'Anse, Nippes	Haiti	0.522
4	Sud-Est	Haiti	0.531
5	Sud	Haiti	0.538
6	Nord-Est	Haiti	0.542
7	Nord-Ouest	Haiti	0.545
8	Lempira Department	Honduras	0.547
Medium human development
9	Gracias a Dios Department	Honduras	0.550
10	North (Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz)	Guatemala	0.556

South America

Top 10 highest

The 10 regions with the highest HDI in South America in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Very high human development
1	Santiago Metropolitan Region	Chile	0.890
2	Tarapacá Region	Chile	0.887
3	Antofagasta Region	Chile	0.881
4	Valparaíso Region	Chile	0.876
5	Magallanes Region	Chile	0.872
6	Atacama Region	Chile	0.864
7	Greater Buenos Aires	Argentina	0.851
8	La Pampa Province	Argentina	0.850
9	Patagonia region	Argentina	0.849
10	Montevideo	Uruguay	0.846

Top 10 lowest

The 10 regions with the lowest HDI in South America in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Medium human development
1	Brokopondo and Sipaliwini	Suriname	0.564
2	Potosí Department	Bolivia	0.612
3	Apure	Venezuela	0.628
4	Vaupés Department	Colombia	0.631
5	Barinas	Venezuela	0.646
	Portuguesa	Venezuela	0.646
7	Potaro-Siparuni	Guyana	0.652
8	Barima-Waini	Guyana	0.661
	Guárico	Venezuela	0.661
	Guainía Department	Colombia	0.661

Oceania

Top 10 highest

The 10 regions with the highest HDI in Oceania in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Very high human development
1	Australian Capital Territory	Australia	0.976
2	Western Australia	Australia	0.969
	Wellington Region	New Zealand	0.969
4	Auckland Region	New Zealand	0.968
5	New South Wales	Australia	0.946
6	Canterbury Region	New Zealand	0.943
7	Victoria	Australia	0.942
8	Taranaki	New Zealand	0.941
9	Marlborough Region	New Zealand	0.938
10	Otago Region	New Zealand	0.936

Top 10 lowest

The 10 regions with the lowest HDI in Oceania in 2022 were:^[3]

Rank	Region	Country	HDI (2022)
Low human development
1	Hela Province	Papua New Guinea	0.472
2	Southern Highlands Province	Papua New Guinea	0.499
3	Enga Province	Papua New Guinea	0.500
4	Gulf Province	Papua New Guinea	0.533
5	Eastern Highlands Province	Papua New Guinea	0.534
6	Sandaun Province	Papua New Guinea	0.542
Medium human development
7	Penama Province	Vanuatu	0.552
8	Torba Province	Vanuatu	0.554
9	East Sepik Province	Papua New Guinea	0.562
10	Jiwaka Province	Papua New Guinea	0.564