List of African countries by Human Development Index

The Human Development Index is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living. It is a standard means of measuring well-being. It is used to distinguish whether the country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country, and also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life. Countries (almost all UN member states and a couple of special territories) fall into four broad categories based on their HDI: very high, high, medium and low human development.

List of African countries

African countries by Human Development Index (2019 report, showing 2018 data)

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   ≤ 0.399   Data unavailable

The table below presents the latest Human Development Index (HDI) for countries in Africa as included in the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report, released on 9 December 2019 and based on data collected in 2018.

List of African countries by Human Development Index
Africa rank	Global rank	Country	HDI value	Change in HDI value 2017–2018
Very high human development
1	62	Seychelles	0.801	0.001
High human development
2	66	Mauritius	0.796	0.003
3	82	Algeria	0.759	0.001
4	91	Tunisia	0.739	0.001
5	94	Botswana	0.728	0.004
6	110	Libya	0.708	0.004
7	113	South Africa	0.705	0.001
8	115	Gabon	0.702	0.002
9	116	Egypt	0.700	0.004
Medium human development
10	121	Morocco	0.676	0.001
11	126	Cape Verde	0.651	0.004
12	130	Namibia	0.645	0.002
13	137	São Tomé and Príncipe	0.609	0.006
14	138	Republic of the Congo	0.608	0.001
14	138	Eswatini	0.608	0.005
16	142	Ghana	0.596	0.005
17	143	Zambia	0.591	0.002
18	144	Equatorial Guinea	0.588	0.002
19	147	Kenya	0.579	0.005
20	149	Angola	0.574	0.002
21	150	Cameroon	0.563	0.003
21	150	Zimbabwe	0.563	0.010
Low human development
23	156	Comoros	0.538	0.001
24	157	Rwanda	0.536	0.007
25	158	Nigeria	0.534	0.001
26	159	Tanzania	0.528	0.004
26	159	Uganda	0.528	0.004
28	161	Mauritania	0.527	0.003
29	162	Madagascar	0.521	0.003
30	163	Benin	0.520	0.005
31	164	Lesotho	0.518	0.004
32	165	Ivory Coast	0.516	0.006
33	166	Senegal	0.514	0.004
34	167	Togo	0.513	0.003
35	168	Sudan	0.507
36	171	Djibouti	0.495	0.003
37	172	Malawi	0.485	0.003
38	173	Ethiopia	0.470	0.004
39	174	Gambia	0.466	0.007
39	174	Guinea	0.466	0.003
41	176	Liberia	0.465	0.001
42	178	Guinea-Bissau	0.461	0.001
43	179	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.459	0.003
44	180	Mozambique	0.446	0.004
45	181	Sierra Leone	0.438	0.003
46	182	Burkina Faso	0.434	0.005
46	182	Eritrea	0.434	0.003
48	184	Mali	0.427	0.001
49	185	Burundi	0.423	0.001
50	186	South Sudan	0.413	0.001
51	187	Chad	0.401
52	188	Central African Republic	0.381	0.005
53	189	Niger	0.377	0.004

See also

• List of countries by Human Development Index
• List of African countries by GDP (nominal)
• List of African countries by GDP (PPP)
• List of African countries by GDP (PPP) per capita
• List of African countries by population
• Poverty in Africa
• List of countries by percentage of population living in poverty