List of countries in Asia and Oceania by Human Development Index

HDI ranking
UNHDI Source"Human Development Report 2023". United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
HDI scale rangesVery high · High · Medium · Low
Number of countries48
Cut-off for very high HDI≥ 0.800

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used to distinguish whether the country is a developed, a developing or an under-developed country, and also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life. The index was developed in 1990 by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq.[1][2] Countries fall into four broad categories based on their HDI: (very high, high, medium, and low human development). Currently, no Oceanian country falls into the low human development category, while Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen are the only Asian countries which fall into this category, although recovering rapidly.

The table below presents the latest Human Development Index (HDI)[3] for countries in Asia and the Pacific as included in a Development report of united nations development programme released on 6 May 2025 and based on data collected in 2023.[4]

Countries with contiguous boundaries that are partially (but not entirely) located in Asia are shown here in italics, but HDI figures are given for the whole country. Macau, North Korea, and Taiwan in Asia, are not ranked as they are not included in the latest report by the United Nations Development Programme. As of 2025, Taiwan ranked very Highly in HDI with 0.926 per official figures.

List of countries in Asia and Oceania by Human Development Index
Rank Nation Human Development
Index (HDI)
Region World HDI 2023 HDI 2022 HDI 2021 Change in HDI Value (2021-2023)
Very High Human Development
1 7 Australia 0.958 0.946 0.949 0.009
2 8 Hong Kong, China (SAR)[note 1] 0.955 0.956 0.959 0.004
3 13 Singapore 0.946 0.949 0.942 0.004
4 15 United Arab Emirates 0.940 0.937 0.931 0.009
5 17 New Zealand 0.938 0.939 0.936 0.002
6 20 South Korea 0.937 0.929 0.926 0.011
7 23 Japan 0.925 0.920 0.920 0.005
8 27 Israel 0.919 0.915 0.911 0.004
9 32 Cyprus[note 2] 0.913 0.907 0.901 0.012
10 37 Saudi Arabia 0.900 0.875 0.867 0.033
11 38 Bahrain 0.899 0.888 0.884 0.015
12 43 Qatar 0.886 0.875 0.864 0.022
13 50 Oman 0.858 0.819 0.810 0.048
14 51 Turkey[note 3] 0.853 0.855 0.841 0.012
15 52 Kuwait 0.852 0.849 0.838 0.014
16 57 Georgia[note 4] 0.844 0.814 0.809 0.035
17 60 Brunei 0.837 0.823 0.824 0.013
18 60 Kazakhstan[note 5] 0.837 0.802 0.801 0.036
19 64 Russia[note 6] 0.832 0.821 0.818 0.014
20 67 Malaysia 0.819 0.807 0.798 0.021
21 69 Armenia[note 7] 0.811 0.786 0.774 0.037
High Human Development
22 75 Iran 0.799 0.780 0.776 0.023
23 76 Thailand 0.798 0.803 0.797 0.001
24 78 China[note 8] 0.797 0.788 0.785 0.012
25 81 Azerbaijan[note 9] 0.789 0.760 0.738 0.051
26 84 Palau 0.786 0.797 0.802 0.015
27 89 Sri Lanka 0.776 0.780 0.783 0.007
28 92 Tonga 0.769 0.739 0.738 0.031
29 93 Maldives 0.766 0.762 0.753 0.013
30 93 Vietnam 0.766 0.726 0.718 0.048
31 95 Turkmenistan 0.764 0.744 0.740 0.024
32 100 Jordan 0.754 0.736 0.736 0.018
33 100 Egypt[note 10] 0.754 0.728 0.726 0.028
34 102 Lebanon 0.752 0.723 0.725 0.027
35 104 Mongolia 0.747 0.741 0.730 0.017
36 107 Uzbekistan 0.740 0.727 0.721 0.006
37 108 Marshall Islands 0.733 0.731 0.729 0.004
38 111 Fiji 0.731 0.729 0.715 0.016
39 113 Indonesia[note 11] 0.728 0.713 0.707 0.021
40 117 Philippines 0.720 0.710 0.692 0.028
41 117 Kyrgyzstan 0.720 0.701 0.696 0.024
42 122 Samoa 0.708 0.702 0.708 0.000
43 122 Nauru 0.703 0.696 0.693 0.010
Medium Human Development
44 125 Bhutan 0.698 0.681 0.677 0.021
45 126 Iraq 0.695 0.673 0.667 0.028
46 128 Tajikistan 0.691 0.679 0.677 0.014
47 129 Tuvalu 0.689 0.653 0.653 0.036
48 130 Bangladesh 0.685 0.670 0.662 0.023
49 131 India 0.685 0.644 0.633 0.052
50 133 Palestine 0.674 0.716 0.715 0.041
51 140 Kiribati 0.644 0.628 0.627 0.017
52 142 Timor Leste 0.634 0.566 0.574 0.060
53 145   Nepal 0.622 0.601 0.591 0.031
54 146 Vanuatu 0.621 0.614 0.614 0.007
55 147 Laos 0.617 0.620 0.615 0.002
56 149 Micronesia 0.615 0.634 0.634 0.019
57 150 Myanmar 0.609 0.608 0.599 0.010
58 151 Cambodia 0.606 0.600 0.596 0.010
59 156 Solomon Islands 0.584 0.562 0.564 0.020
60 160 Papua New Guinea 0.576 0.568 0.564 0.012
61 162 Syria 0.564 0.557 0.558 0.006
Low Human Development
62 168 Pakistan 0.544 0.540 0.537 0.007
63 181 Afghanistan 0.496 0.462 0.473 0.023
64 184 Yemen 0.470 0.424 0.425 0.045

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China.
  2. ^ Cyprus is geographically a part of Western Asia (or the Middle East), though politically and culturally it is often considered as being a part of Europe.
  3. ^ A portion of Turkey, known as East Thrace, is a part of Europe, making up about 3% of the country's land area and 14% of its population.
  4. ^ The municipality of Kazbegi is located in Europe, which makes up about 0.1% of Georgia's population.
  5. ^ Two regions of Kazakhstan, namely Atyrau and West Kazakhstan, are partly located in Europe.
  6. ^ Russia is geographically a transcontinental country, though culturally and politically it is often considered as being a part of Europe. Asian Russia consists of over 75% of the country's territory, but only 22% of its population.
  7. ^ Armenia is geographically a part of Western Asia (or the Middle East), though culturally and politically it is often considered as being a part of Europe.
  8. ^ Data for China are calculated for mainland China only, excluding Taiwan and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao.
  9. ^ The districts of Khachmaz, Quba, Qusar, Shabran, and Siazan are geographically in Europe, placing about 5% of Azerbaijan's population in Europe.
  10. ^ The portion of Egypt located in Asia is the Sinai Region, comprising about 6% of the country's landmass. However, the country is politically a part of Africa.
  11. ^ The Aru Islands and Western New Guinea are geographically in Oceania, comprising approx. 22% of Indonesia's landmass and 2% of its population. However, the country is politically a part of Asia.

References

  1. ^ "History of the Human Development Report". United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  2. ^ "The Human Development concept". UNDP. 2010. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  3. ^ "Table 1: Human Development Index and its components".
  4. ^ "Human Development Report 2023". Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
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