Independent rankings built from public data — every figure traceable to the body that published it.
Report year 1996Data year 1996
HDI score (0–1)Higher is better — rank 1 leadsPublished by UNDP Human Development Report Office
34 data years (1990–2023), imported from the 2025 Human Development Report's own composite-indices time series — one file covering every year at once, like World Happiness and Rule of Law. ⚠ This is ONE report's self-consistent recalculation of 1990–2023, not 34 separate originally-published editions: UNDP restates prior years on its current methodology each time it publishes, so these numbers are not what an earlier report actually printed for, say, 2005. UNDP states an official rank only for the latest year (2023); every other year's rank is derived by ordering the score, and that derivation was verified to reproduce UNDP's own 2023 ranking exactly before being trusted for the rest.
Human Development Index 1996 — UNDP Human Development Report Office
Cite as: UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). Human Development Report. New York: UNDP.
Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO
Recalculated on the 2025 Human Development Report's current methodology, not the figures originally published for this year — see docs/PROJECT-PLAN.md 11.1e. Rank is derived by ordering the HDI score, descending; verified to reproduce UNDP's own 2023 published ranking exactly.
149 rows × 8 columns · imported from the publisher’s published data file on
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| Global Rank | Country | ISO Code | HDI Score | Life Expectancy at Birth (years) | Expected Years of Schooling | Mean Years of Schooling | GNI per Capita (2021 PPP $) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | NOR | 0.894 | 78.233 | 15.8133 | 11.9329 | 55,224 |
| 2 | Netherlands | NLD | 0.890 | 77.556 | 16.9582 | 11.4893 | 47,979 |
| 2 | United States | USA | 0.890 | 76.175 | 15.8460 | 13.1000 | 47,475 |
| 4 | Australia | AUS | 0.884 | 78.344 | 19.5117 | 11.3256 | 33,072 |
| 4 | Canada | CAN | 0.884 | 78.272 | 16.8334 | 11.7900 | 37,648 |
| 6 | Belgium | BEL | 0.881 | 77.185 | 17.6802 | 10.1943 | 48,728 |
| 7 | Japan | JPN | 0.880 | 80.363 | 14.7485 | 11.9070 | 41,539 |
| 8 | Sweden | SWE | 0.877 | 79.045 | 16.5232 | 10.7133 | 41,627 |
| 9 | Germany | DEU | 0.875 | 76.783 | 15.8644 | 11.6162 | 46,323 |
| 9 | Switzerland | CHE | 0.875 | 79.049 | 14.4589 | 10.5136 | 66,027 |
| 11 | Iceland | ISL | 0.873 | 78.646 | 15.9256 | 11.2205 | 39,334 |
| 12 | Denmark | DNK | 0.870 | 75.664 | 15.4088 | 11.8150 | 48,472 |
| 13 | Finland | FIN | 0.863 | 76.870 | 16.5802 | 10.5231 | 40,186 |
| 14 | New Zealand | NZL | 0.862 | 76.807 | 16.9728 | 11.7350 | 27,564 |
| 15 | Austria | AUT | 0.861 | 77.026 | 14.9681 | 10.7436 | 50,378 |
| 16 | Singapore | SGP | 0.859 | 76.050 | 16.6405 | 8.8390 | 61,813 |
| 17 | France | FRA | 0.842 | 78.061 | 15.8602 | 8.7029 | 42,809 |
| 18 | United Kingdom | GBR | 0.841 | 76.872 | 15.0532 | 10.2055 | 37,957 |
| 19 | Luxembourg | LUX | 0.832 | 76.168 | 12.1549 | 9.8600 | 77,668 |
| 20 | Italy | ITA | 0.829 | 78.438 | 14.7226 | 8.2237 | 46,166 |
| 21 | Israel | ISR | 0.817 | 78.570 | 13.2134 | 10.3033 | 28,128 |
| 22 | Ireland | IRL | 0.816 | 75.826 | 13.9068 | 9.9700 | 34,165 |
| 23 | Spain | ESP | 0.811 | 78.339 | 15.9231 | 7.0585 | 32,907 |
| 24 | Hong Kong, China (SAR) | HKG | 0.808 | 79.454 | 11.1755 | 9.7700 | 40,478 |
| 25 | Korea (Republic of) | KOR | 0.801 | 74.021 | 14.6694 | 10.1240 | 24,148 |
| 26 | Greece | GRC | 0.796 | 78.036 | 13.5064 | 8.5864 | 28,687 |
| 27 | Czechia | CZE | 0.793 | 73.834 | 13.3467 | 10.2333 | 26,926 |
| 28 | Qatar | QAT | 0.791 | 74.558 | 12.6142 | 7.1940 | 74,476 |
| 29 | Brunei Darussalam | BRN | 0.784 | 73.079 | 11.5422 | 8.1060 | 95,455 |
| 30 | Cyprus | CYP | 0.782 | 76.880 | 11.6814 | 9.2600 | 30,375 |
| 31 | Portugal | PRT | 0.781 | 75.476 | 15.9318 | 6.3114 | 28,912 |
| 32 | Bahamas | BHS | 0.779 | 71.464 | 11.3947 | 10.6280 | 36,415 |
| 33 | Slovenia | SVN | 0.778 | 74.797 | 12.8612 | 9.1715 | 26,313 |
| 34 | Kuwait | KWT | 0.769 | 75.602 | 12.0758 | 5.9012 | 75,906 |
| 35 | Malta | MLT | 0.763 | 76.321 | 13.3545 | 7.1029 | 26,583 |
| 35 | Poland | POL | 0.763 | 72.253 | 13.3832 | 10.7336 | 15,128 |
| 37 | Argentina | ARG | 0.760 | 73.056 | 13.6759 | 8.5300 | 21,381 |
| 38 | United Arab Emirates | ARE | 0.753 | 71.820 | 10.3035 | 7.4968 | 100,664 |
| 39 | Hungary | HUN | 0.752 | 70.597 | 12.9157 | 9.8945 | 19,086 |
| 40 | Barbados | BRB | 0.748 | 74.065 | 13.7728 | 9.0149 | 13,172 |
| 41 | Estonia | EST | 0.746 | 70.031 | 13.1527 | 11.1425 | 12,654 |
| 42 | Chile | CHL | 0.745 | 75.555 | 12.2652 | 8.8552 | 15,509 |
| 43 | Bahrain | BHR | 0.741 | 73.610 | 11.0093 | 6.8650 | 45,319 |
| 44 | Slovakia | SVK | 0.740 | 72.739 | 12.3696 | 8.7100 | 18,339 |
| 45 | Uruguay | URY | 0.736 | 73.812 | 13.3495 | 7.4700 | 17,212 |
| 46 | Croatia | HRV | 0.725 | 72.975 | 11.1935 | 8.3950 | 18,844 |
| 47 | Lithuania | LTU | 0.723 | 70.193 | 11.9838 | 10.2111 | 12,204 |
| 47 | Russian Federation | RUS | 0.723 | 65.449 | 11.6842 | 10.8885 | 18,356 |
| 49 | Bulgaria | BGR | 0.718 | 70.836 | 12.5160 | 8.5567 | 14,092 |
| 50 | Libya | LBY | 0.716 | 70.736 | 15.6475 | 4.8680 | 18,279 |
| 51 | Latvia | LVA | 0.714 | 68.586 | 11.6554 | 10.9090 | 10,875 |
| 52 | Saudi Arabia | SAU | 0.711 | 71.288 | 10.4974 | 6.1959 | 43,083 |
| 53 | Costa Rica | CRI | 0.707 | 76.428 | 10.8511 | 7.3231 | 13,921 |
| 53 | Romania | ROU | 0.707 | 68.821 | 11.3071 | 9.0860 | 15,516 |
| 55 | Malaysia | MYS | 0.701 | 72.119 | 11.2960 | 7.2300 | 16,975 |
| 55 | Saint Lucia | LCA | 0.701 | 70.963 | 12.0632 | 7.1026 | 16,346 |
| 55 | Ukraine | UKR | 0.701 | 67.097 | 12.2052 | 10.3227 | 9,973 |
| 58 | Belarus | BLR | 0.697 | 68.566 | 12.3634 | 10.0436 | 8,325 |
| 59 | Panama | PAN | 0.694 | 72.199 | 11.3761 | 7.6920 | 12,416 |
| 60 | Serbia | SRB | 0.692 | 72.916 | 12.8348 | 7.0725 | 9,397 |
| 61 | Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) | VEN | 0.690 | 71.920 | 10.5632 | 6.8291 | 18,614 |
| 62 | Mexico | MEX | 0.687 | 71.088 | 11.3673 | 6.3760 | 17,606 |
| 63 | Trinidad and Tobago | TTO | 0.684 | 68.039 | 10.9326 | 8.2667 | 14,029 |
| 64 | Iran (Islamic Republic of) | IRN | 0.681 | 68.328 | 11.4230 | 7.4141 | 14,589 |
| 65 | Tonga | TON | 0.678 | 68.803 | 12.5919 | 10.0300 | 5,536 |
| 66 | Ecuador | ECU | 0.677 | 71.820 | 12.0404 | 7.0924 | 9,084 |
| 67 | Cuba | CUB | 0.675 | 74.690 | 11.9709 | 9.6247 | 4,063 |
| 68 | Sri Lanka | LKA | 0.672 | 69.841 | 12.0184 | 9.6851 | 5,424 |
| 69 | Brazil | BRA | 0.671 | 68.108 | 14.3919 | 4.5862 | 13,311 |
| 70 | Kazakhstan | KAZ | 0.669 | 63.455 | 11.6959 | 8.8635 | 11,831 |
| 71 | Jamaica | JAM | 0.664 | 71.328 | 10.7344 | 7.1875 | 9,623 |
| 72 | Colombia | COL | 0.663 | 70.209 | 11.0701 | 6.6555 | 11,222 |
| 72 | Samoa | WSM | 0.663 | 69.767 | 11.6675 | 10.5528 | 4,189 |
| 74 | Peru | PER | 0.658 | 67.850 | 11.7995 | 8.1273 | 7,240 |
| 75 | Fiji | FJI | 0.657 | 66.202 | 11.9064 | 7.6900 | 8,966 |
| 75 | Jordan | JOR | 0.657 | 71.105 | 12.0407 | 6.5893 | 7,401 |
| 75 | North Macedonia | MKD | 0.657 | 71.854 | 11.1659 | 5.7925 | 10,673 |
| 78 | Mauritius | MUS | 0.653 | 70.524 | 10.7615 | 6.1240 | 11,147 |
| 79 | Belize | BLZ | 0.650 | 69.363 | 11.1589 | 6.4807 | 9,403 |
| 80 | South Africa | ZAF | 0.649 | 61.079 | 12.7490 | 8.2811 | 9,400 |
| 81 | Albania | ALB | 0.647 | 74.113 | 10.1615 | 7.6238 | 5,594 |
| 82 | Paraguay | PRY | 0.646 | 69.050 | 10.7387 | 6.3718 | 10,265 |
| 83 | Gabon | GAB | 0.644 | 61.265 | 11.3253 | 5.4060 | 27,615 |
| 84 | Armenia | ARM | 0.635 | 69.198 | 9.8751 | 10.2047 | 3,800 |
| 85 | Thailand | THA | 0.634 | 69.940 | 10.2422 | 5.2122 | 12,164 |
| 86 | Dominican Republic | DOM | 0.631 | 69.595 | 10.3554 | 6.0307 | 8,596 |
| 87 | Türkiye | TUR | 0.630 | 70.245 | 9.6616 | 4.8761 | 14,483 |
| 88 | Azerbaijan | AZE | 0.622 | 62.660 | 11.4159 | 10.1418 | 4,033 |
| 89 | Philippines | PHL | 0.619 | 66.691 | 11.2918 | 7.4140 | 4,928 |
| 90 | Egypt | EGY | 0.617 | 65.733 | 10.1529 | 6.3300 | 8,917 |
| 91 | Tunisia | TUN | 0.616 | 71.247 | 11.2538 | 4.3265 | 7,337 |
| 92 | Algeria | DZA | 0.615 | 68.219 | 10.1239 | 4.9879 | 10,390 |
| 93 | Bolivia (Plurinational State of) | BOL | 0.602 | 60.287 | 12.7419 | 6.6544 | 5,677 |
| 94 | Kyrgyzstan | KGZ | 0.597 | 63.447 | 10.2943 | 9.8850 | 3,050 |
| 95 | Syrian Arab Republic | SYR | 0.590 | 70.156 | 9.7784 | 4.2879 | 7,028 |
| 96 | Namibia | NAM | 0.587 | 56.639 | 12.8116 | 5.7550 | 7,590 |
| 96 | Tuvalu | TUV | 0.587 | 62.709 | 10.2215 | 7.8263 | 4,176 |
| 98 | Indonesia | IDN | 0.585 | 65.465 | 10.4086 | 4.8588 | 6,631 |
| 99 | Botswana | BWA | 0.584 | 54.284 | 10.8847 | 6.8900 | 11,044 |
| 100 | Mongolia | MNG | 0.578 | 61.000 | 7.8203 | 8.7044 | 5,391 |
| 101 | El Salvador | SLV | 0.576 | 65.480 | 9.9355 | 4.4729 | 6,992 |
| 102 | Viet Nam | VNM | 0.567 | 71.296 | 9.5637 | 4.9559 | 3,482 |
| 103 | Nicaragua | NIC | 0.559 | 65.215 | 8.8305 | 6.2894 | 3,860 |
| 104 | Iraq | IRQ | 0.557 | 64.618 | 7.9611 | 5.2979 | 6,615 |
| 105 | China | CHN | 0.555 | 70.823 | 8.9750 | 5.3280 | 2,967 |
| 106 | Congo | COG | 0.550 | 55.240 | 9.9353 | 6.8568 | 5,587 |
| 107 | Guyana | GUY | 0.546 | 62.691 | 9.4683 | 5.6995 | 3,765 |
| 108 | Honduras | HND | 0.541 | 67.263 | 8.6941 | 4.3292 | 4,200 |
| 109 | Eswatini (Kingdom of) | SWZ | 0.532 | 53.296 | 9.6996 | 6.0215 | 6,310 |
| 110 | Guatemala | GTM | 0.530 | 64.540 | 7.4189 | 3.6405 | 8,101 |
| 111 | Tajikistan | TJK | 0.528 | 60.806 | 9.8878 | 10.3723 | 1,228 |
| 112 | Morocco | MAR | 0.495 | 65.226 | 7.4330 | 2.7800 | 4,759 |
| 113 | Kenya | KEN | 0.491 | 55.575 | 8.3203 | 4.8326 | 3,837 |
| 114 | Haiti | HTI | 0.479 | 56.111 | 9.6029 | 3.2979 | 3,212 |
| 115 | India | IND | 0.476 | 61.027 | 8.2666 | 3.4663 | 2,652 |
| 116 | Lesotho | LSO | 0.473 | 55.136 | 8.9898 | 4.6227 | 2,452 |
| 117 | Zimbabwe | ZWE | 0.472 | 48.981 | 9.9493 | 5.9320 | 2,716 |
| 118 | Ghana | GHA | 0.465 | 56.957 | 6.4183 | 4.9022 | 3,048 |
| 119 | Lao People's Democratic Republic | LAO | 0.449 | 56.821 | 7.2727 | 3.9603 | 2,355 |
| 120 | Mauritania | MRT | 0.448 | 58.915 | 5.6457 | 2.7260 | 5,558 |
| 120 | Papua New Guinea | PNG | 0.448 | 61.071 | 5.4636 | 3.0840 | 4,008 |
| 122 | Nepal | NPL | 0.447 | 60.044 | 8.1201 | 2.7679 | 2,043 |
| 123 | Bangladesh | BGD | 0.442 | 58.940 | 6.7558 | 3.9124 | 2,020 |
| 124 | Togo | TGO | 0.433 | 53.817 | 8.8180 | 2.8053 | 2,109 |
| 125 | Cameroon | CMR | 0.432 | 53.200 | 7.5429 | 2.6412 | 3,366 |
| 126 | Pakistan | PAK | 0.420 | 60.466 | 4.4927 | 2.9159 | 3,443 |
| 127 | Zambia | ZMB | 0.415 | 45.757 | 8.1498 | 5.0263 | 2,086 |
| 128 | Cambodia | KHM | 0.408 | 56.832 | 7.5285 | 3.1465 | 1,261 |
| 128 | Nigeria | NGA | 0.408 | 45.833 | 7.0061 | 3.8092 | 3,332 |
| 130 | Yemen | YEM | 0.405 | 60.884 | 6.4120 | 0.8468 | 2,927 |
| 131 | Côte d'Ivoire | CIV | 0.403 | 51.596 | 6.0026 | 2.5603 | 3,451 |
| 132 | Myanmar | MMR | 0.391 | 59.169 | 7.7970 | 2.5481 | 877 |
| 133 | Benin | BEN | 0.389 | 55.648 | 5.7224 | 1.9500 | 2,363 |
| 134 | Congo (Democratic Republic of the) | COD | 0.386 | 49.376 | 6.6309 | 4.6786 | 1,180 |
| 135 | Senegal | SEN | 0.385 | 57.129 | 4.8780 | 1.8396 | 2,869 |
| 136 | Tanzania (United Republic of) | TZA | 0.383 | 51.132 | 5.2422 | 3.8743 | 1,705 |
| 137 | Gambia | GMB | 0.377 | 54.849 | 4.9398 | 2.0680 | 2,453 |
| 138 | Malawi | MWI | 0.375 | 44.005 | 10.5032 | 2.5835 | 1,212 |
| 139 | Uganda | UGA | 0.367 | 47.759 | 6.1796 | 3.6364 | 1,357 |
| 140 | Afghanistan | AFG | 0.334 | 52.830 | 4.6884 | 1.1236 | 1,852 |
| 141 | Central African Republic | CAF | 0.323 | 47.700 | 4.5023 | 2.2812 | 1,339 |
| 141 | Guinea | GIN | 0.323 | 50.546 | 3.8565 | 1.3900 | 2,174 |
| 143 | Djibouti | DJI | 0.320 | 56.330 | 2.9650 | 1.2205 | 2,340 |
| 144 | Sierra Leone | SLE | 0.311 | 43.528 | 5.3044 | 2.4454 | 1,116 |
| 145 | Rwanda | RWA | 0.297 | 42.486 | 5.6448 | 2.1966 | 879 |
| 146 | Burundi | BDI | 0.292 | 44.807 | 4.5312 | 1.7833 | 1,029 |
| 147 | Mali | MLI | 0.282 | 48.500 | 3.0642 | 1.0624 | 1,646 |
| 148 | Mozambique | MOZ | 0.269 | 47.121 | 4.5073 | 1.5844 | 565 |
| 149 | Niger | NER | 0.245 | 46.313 | 2.3685 | 0.9751 | 1,161 |