UNDP Human Development Report Office · Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index
Inequality-adjusted HDI by country
How much human development is left once inequality is taken into account?
Iceland placed first of the 169 countries compared in 2023, at 0.923, and South Sudan last, at 0.226. In the middle country the figure was 0.609. Among the 111 countries measured in every edition since 2010, the middle one moved from 0.594 to 0.649.
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Inequality-adjusted HDI · 2023
Context statistic
Highest of 169Iceland
0.923012023 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 169 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Hansueli Krapf · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
2Photo: User:Aconcagua · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
3Photo: Ximonic , Simo Räsänen · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
Lowest in 2023
- 169
South Sudan0.226 - 168
Somalia0.229 - 167
Chad0.252
Positions out of 169. Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
Highest on each continent
- Africa
Seychelles0.755 - Americas
Canada0.867 - Asia
United Arab Emirates0.866 - EuropeIceland0.923
- Oceania
Australia0.873 - Every region
02Every measured country
Inequality-adjusted HDI on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value — the better end.
- 0.226–0.374
- 0.379–0.555
- 0.558–0.670
- 0.677–0.819
- 0.823–0.923
- No reading in 2023 (1 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
0.831
the middle country, of 40 measured · 49 members
Iceland0.923
Bosnia and Herzegovina0.689Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Asia
0.642
the middle country, of 40 measured · 52 members
United Arab Emirates0.866
Afghanistan0.321Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Americas
0.620
the middle country, of 25 measured · 48 members
Canada0.867
Haiti0.337Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Oceania
0.609
the middle country, of 13 measured · 21 members
Australia0.873
Papua New Guinea0.423Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Africa
0.361
the middle country, of 51 measured · 55 members
Seychelles0.755South Sudan0.226Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Every region
22 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Western Europe
0.890
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Switzerland0.894
France0.836Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Northern Europe
0.886
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Iceland0.9232 share 0.812
Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Eastern Asia
0.839
the middle country, of 5 measured · 8 members
South Korea0.857
Mongolia0.647Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Southern Europe
0.817
the middle country, of 13 measured · 17 members
Slovenia0.885Bosnia and Herzegovina0.689Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Eastern Europe
0.765
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Czechia0.867
Ukraine0.715Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Western Asia
0.739
the middle country, of 12 measured · 19 members
United Arab Emirates0.866
Yemen0.325Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- South America
0.619
the middle country, of 10 measured · 12 members
Argentina0.761
Bolivia0.578Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- South-eastern Asia
0.608
the middle country, of 11 measured · 11 members
Singapore0.823
Cambodia0.444Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Caribbean
0.605
the middle country, of 6 measured · 24 members
Bahamas0.670Haiti0.337Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Northern Africa
0.582
the middle country, of 5 measured · 6 members
Algeria0.601
Sudan0.328Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Central America
0.555
the middle country, of 7 measured · 8 members
Costa Rica0.678
Guatemala0.479Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Southern Asia
0.478
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
Iran0.643Afghanistan0.321Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Southern Africa
0.438
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Botswana0.509
Lesotho0.357Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Eastern Africa
0.361
the middle country, of 17 measured · 19 members
Seychelles0.755South Sudan0.226Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Middle Africa
0.361
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
Gabon0.558Chad0.252Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Western Africa
0.330
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Cabo Verde0.478
Niger0.265Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia0.873
New Zealand0.853Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Central Asia
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan.
Kazakhstan0.766
Tajikistan0.594Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Melanesia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
Fiji0.626Papua New Guinea0.423Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
4 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau.
Marshall Islands0.626
Kiribati0.535Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
Canada0.867
United States0.832Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Polynesia
3 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu.
Tonga0.682
Tuvalu0.578Highest and lowest reading in Polynesia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
169 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 0.609; a quarter are above 0.771, and a quarter below 0.431. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 170 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. “=” marks a position shared with another country. UNDP Human Development Report Office ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. The countries that fall furthest between the HDI table and this one are the unequal ones, whatever their income.
Showing 25 of 170 countries
Values for 2023. The change column compares 2023 with 2022 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052010–2023 · 14 reference years
Over time
Each point is one reference year from 2010. Read this line beside the plain HDI rather than instead of it — a country can sit high on one and low on the other, which is the entire point of the measure.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 111 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 169 | 0.609 | 0.431 – 0.771 | 0.649 |
| 2022 | 168 | 0.610 | 0.426 – 0.761 | 0.646 |
| 2021 | 168 | 0.606 | 0.415 – 0.750 | 0.634 |
| 2020 | 166 | 0.601 | 0.417 – 0.757 | 0.638 |
| 2019 | 165 | 0.616 | 0.410 – 0.767 | 0.648 |
| 2018 | 159 | 0.610 | 0.412 – 0.763 | 0.645 |
| 2017 | 158 | 0.603 | 0.402 – 0.755 | 0.640 |
| 2016 | 156 | 0.593 | 0.396 – 0.747 | 0.639 |
| 2015 | 154 | 0.585 | 0.386 – 0.746 | 0.628 |
| 2014 | 150 | 0.594 | 0.381 – 0.747 | 0.626 |
| 2013 | 145 | 0.578 | 0.370 – 0.735 | 0.620 |
| 2012 | 140 | 0.575 | 0.363 – 0.741 | 0.608 |
| 2011 | 130 | 0.584 | 0.366 – 0.754 | 0.600 |
| 2010 | 115 | 0.587 | 0.386 – 0.766 | 0.594 |
062022 → 2023
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → after
Spain0.795 → 0.819 · 39th → 33rd+0.024
Greece0.804 → 0.825 · 35th → 31st+0.021- United Arab Emirates0.847 → 0.866 · 17th → 16th+0.019
- Somalia0.210 → 0.229 · 168th → 168th+0.019
Andorra0.819 → 0.837 · 30th → 26th+0.018
Declined most
before → after
Palestine0.605 → 0.538 · 85th → 103rd−0.067
Türkiye0.713 → 0.708 · 59th → 60th−0.005
Israel0.816 → 0.813 · 32nd → 37th−0.003- Sudan0.331 → 0.328 · 150th → 152nd−0.003
Dominican Republic0.636 → 0.634 · 76th → 78th−0.002
168 countries were measured in both 2022 and 2023. The field changed from 168 to 169 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Inequality-adjusted HDI in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
0.923
IHDI (0–1)
Lowest reading on record
0.134
IHDI (0–1)
Biggest improvement between editions
+0.070
0.134 → 0.204
Biggest decline between editions
−0.073
0.207 → 0.134
Most improved since first measured
+0.127
0.475 → 0.602
At the top most often
8 of 14
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08The measure
About Inequality-adjusted HDI
The Inequality-adjusted HDI is the Human Development Index discounted for how unevenly health, education and income are actually spread inside a country. In a perfectly equal society the two would be identical; the distance between them is the development lost to inequality.
What the number is: IHDI (0–1).
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Development & Human Capital and Poverty & Inequality, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Development & Human CapitalPoverty & InequalityWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where Inequality-adjusted HDI is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Human Development IndexKeyUNDP Human Development Report Office · 169 countries in commonρ 0.98
- Actual Individual Consumption per Capita (PPP)World Bank Group · 149 countries in commonρ 0.96
- GNI per Capita (PPP)World Bank Group · 98 countries in commonρ 0.96
Moves against
Where Inequality-adjusted HDI is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Coefficient of Human InequalityUNDP Human Development Report Office · 169 countries in commonρ −0.96
- Stillbirth RateUN IGME · 168 countries in commonρ −0.95
- Global Multidimensional Poverty IndexOPHI · 96 countries in commonρ −0.94
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 375 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
11Questions
Inequality-adjusted HDI: questions and answers
Which country has the highest Inequality-adjusted HDI?
Iceland, at 0.923, among the 169 countries compared in 2023.
Which country has the lowest Inequality-adjusted HDI?
South Sudan, at 0.226, among the 169 countries compared in 2023.
How many countries does the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index cover?
169 in 2023, and 170 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 115 to 169 between editions.
What is the world average Inequality-adjusted HDI?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 169 compared in 2023, the figure was 0.609.
Is this UNDP Human Development Report Office’s own ranking?
No. UNDP Human Development Report Office publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index published?
This site holds 14 reference years, 2010–2023, all recalculated in UNDP Human Development Report Office’s 2025 report on one method — not 14 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From UNDP Human Development Report Office, under CC BY 3.0 IGO. From the 2025 Human Development Report, which recalculates all 14 years on a single method rather than publishing 14 separate editions. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index — UNDP Human Development Report Office
From the 2025 Human Development Report, which recalculates all 14 years on a single method rather than publishing 14 separate editions.
Newest edition
Report year 2023Data year 2023
Cite the source as: UNDP. Human Development Report. New York: United Nations Development Programme.
Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO, checked 2026-08-29.
How this page reads the numbers
- UNDP Human Development Report Office ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Iceland — Hansueli Krapf, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Denmark — User:Aconcagua, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Norway — Ximonic , Simo Räsänen, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Inequality-adjusted HDI by country: Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, data from UNDP Human Development Report Office. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/inequality-adjusted-hdi