List of Latin American countries by Human Development Index

Map of the Latin American countries by Human Development Index in 2021

The Human Development Index (HDI) 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 fall into four broad categories based on their HDI: very high, high, medium, and low human development.

List

The table below presents the latest Human Development Index (HDI) for countries in Latin America as included in a United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report (released in 2025). ^[1] Previous HDI values and rankings are retroactively recalculated using the same updated data sets and current methodologies, as presented in Table 2 of the Statistical Annex of the Human Development Report. The HDI rankings and values in the 2021-22 Human Development Report cannot therefore be compared directly to HDI rankings and values published in previous Human Development Reports. ^[1]

Rank		Country	Human Development Index (HDI)
Region	World		HDI value			Change in HDI value 2019–23*	Average annual growth (2010–21) [2]
			2023	2021	2019 [3]
Very high human development
1	45	Chile	0.878	0.855	0.851	0.027	0.46%
2	47	Argentina	0.865	0.842	0.845	0.020	0.09%
3	49	Uruguay	0.862	0.809	0.817	0.045	0.25%
4	59	Panama	0.839	0.805	0.815	0.024	0.37%
5	62	Costa Rica	0.833	0.809	0.810	0.023	0.43%
High human development
6	79	Peru	0.794	0.762	0.777	0.017	0.45%
7	81	Mexico	0.789	0.758	0.779	0.010	0.15%
8	83	Colombia	0.788	0.752	0.767	0.021	0.32%
9	84	Brazil	0.786	0.754	0.765	0.021	0.58%
10	88	Ecuador	0.777	0.740	0.759	0.018	0.05%
11	89	Dominican Republic	0.776	0.767	0.756	0.020	0.73%
12	97	Cuba	0.762	0.764	0.783	0.021	0.19%
13	99	Paraguay	0.756	0.717	0.728	0.028	0.42%
14	108	Bolivia	0.733	0.692	0.718	0.015	0.40%
15	121	Venezuela	0.709	0.691	0.711	0.002	0.80%
16	123	Nicaragua	0.706	0.667	0.660	0.046	0.76%
Medium human development
17	132	El Salvador	0.678	0.675	0.673	0.005	0.22%
18	137	Guatemala	0.662	0.627	0.663	0.001	0.33%
19	139	Honduras	0.645	0.621	0.634	0.011	0.36%
20	166	Haiti	0.554	0.535	0.510	0.044	1.94%
*Change in HDI value rounded to three decimals

See also

• Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
• List of countries by Human Development Index
• List of countries by Human Development Index by region
• List of countries by industrial production growth rate
• List of countries by percentage of population living in poverty
• List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP growth
• List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP (nominal)
• List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP (PPP)
• List of Latin American countries by population

References

1. Human Development Report 2021-22: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 8 September 2022. pp. 272–276. ISBN   978-9-211-26451-7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
2. Human Development Report 2021-22: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 8 September 2022. pp. 277–280. ISBN   978-9-211-26451-7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
3. "2020 Human Development Report" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.