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. Currently there are no countries in Africa with "very high" human development.

List of African countries

African countries by Human Development Index (2017)

≥ 0.900   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   ≤ 0.399   Data unavailable

The table below presents the latest Human Development Index (HDI) for countries in Africa as included in a United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report, released on 14 September 2018 and based on data collected in 2017.

List of African countries by Human Development Index
Africa Rank	Global Rank	Country	HDI value	Change in HDI value 2016–2017
High human development
1	62	Seychelles	0.797	0.004
2	65	Mauritius	0.790	0.002
3	85	Algeria	0.754	0.002
4	95	Tunisia	0.735	0.003
5	101	Botswana	0.717	0.005
6	108	Libya	0.706	0.013
7	110	Gabon	0.702	0.004
Medium human development
8	113	South Africa	0.699	0.003
9	115	Egypt	0.696	0.002
10	123	Morocco	0.667	0.005
11	125	Cape Verde	0.654	0.002
12	129	Namibia	0.647	0.002
13	137	Republic of the Congo	0.606	0.006
14	140	Ghana	0.592	0.004
15	141	Equatorial Guinea	0.591	0.001
16	142	Kenya	0.590	0.005
17	143	São Tomé and Príncipe	0.589	0.005
18	144	Eswatini (Swaziland)	0.588	0.002
18	144	Zambia	0.588	0.002
20	147	Angola	0.581	0.004
21	151	Cameroon	0.556	0.003
Low human development
22	154	Tanzania	0.538	0.005
23	156	Zimbabwe	0.535	0.003
24	157	Nigeria	0.532	0.002
25	158	Rwanda	0.524	0.004
26	159	Lesotho	0.520	0.004
26	159	Mauritania	0.520	0.004
28	161	Madagascar	0.519	0.002
29	162	Uganda	0.516	0.006
30	163	Benin	0.515	0.003
31	164	Senegal	0.505	0.006
32	165	Comoros	0.503	0.001
32	165	Togo	0.503	0.003
34	167	Sudan	0.502	0.003
35	170	Ivory Coast	0.492	0.006
36	171	Malawi	0.477	0.003
37	172	Djibouti	0.476	0.002
38	173	Ethiopia	0.463	0.006
39	174	Gambia	0.460	0.003
40	175	Guinea	0.459	0.010
41	176	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.457	0.005
42	177	Guinea-Bissau	0.455	0.002
43	179	Eritrea	0.440	0.004
44	180	Mozambique	0.437	0.002
45	181	Liberia	0.435	0.003
46	182	Mali	0.427	0.006
47	183	Burkina Faso	0.423	0.003
48	184	Sierra Leone	0.419	0.006
49	185	Burundi	0.417	0.001
50	186	Chad	0.404	0.001
52	187	South Sudan	0.388	0.006
52	188	Central African Republic	0.367	0.005
53	189	Niger	0.354	0.003

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