List of Australian states and territories by Human Development Index

Map of Australian states and internal territories by HDI in 2021.

Below is a list of the Australian states and territories by the Human Development Index , as provided by the 2023 sub-national data set (released in 2025), which is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, standard of living, and overall well-being of the citizens in each states. All Australian states have a very high (greater than 0.800) HDI value. ^[1]

The Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia have a higher HDI value than Iceland (0.972), the highest-ranked country in the world.

As of 2025, the Australian Capital Territory had the second highest HDI rating of any sub-national region in the world, behind only the Canton of Zurich (0.993).

Ranking

Rank	State or territory	HDI (2023) [1]	Comparable Countries
Very High Human Development
1	Australian Capital Territory	0.988	Iceland
2	Western Australia	0.973	Iceland
3	New South Wales	0.958	Germany
–	Australia	0.958	Germany
4	Victoria	0.954	Netherlands
5	Queensland	0.947	Finland
6	South Australia	0.944	United Kingdom
	Northern Territory		United Kingdom
8	Tasmania	0.935	South Korea

See also

• List of countries by Human Development Index
• List of countries by inequality-adjusted Human Development Index
• List of countries by planetary pressures–adjusted Human Development Index
• List of regions of New Zealand by Human Development Index

References

1. "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org.