Countries in Europe by human development index

Countries in Europe by human development index, UNDP, 2023

#	Country	HDI	Region
1	Iceland	0.972	Northern Europe
=2	Norway	0.970	Northern Europe
=2	Switzerland	0.970	Western Europe
4	Denmark	0.962	Northern Europe
=5	Germany	0.959	Western Europe
=5	Sweden	0.959	Northern Europe
7	Netherlands	0.955	Western Europe
8	Belgium	0.951	Western Europe
9	Ireland	0.949	Northern Europe
10	Finland	0.948	Northern Europe
11	United Kingdom	0.946	Northern Europe
12	Liechtenstein	0.938	Western Europe
13	Slovenia	0.931	Southern Europe
14	Austria	0.930	Western Europe
15	Malta	0.924	Southern Europe
16	Luxembourg	0.922	Western Europe
17	France	0.920	Western Europe
18	Spain	0.918	Southern Europe
=19	Czechia	0.915	Eastern Europe
=19	Italy	0.915	Southern Europe
=19	San Marino	0.915	Southern Europe
22	Andorra	0.913	Southern Europe
23	Greece	0.908	Southern Europe
24	Poland	0.906	Eastern Europe
25	Estonia	0.905	Northern Europe
26	Lithuania	0.895	Northern Europe
27	Portugal	0.890	Southern Europe
=28	Croatia	0.889	Southern Europe
=28	Latvia	0.889	Northern Europe
30	Slovakia	0.880	Eastern Europe
31	Hungary	0.870	Eastern Europe
32	Montenegro	0.862	Southern Europe
=33	Bulgaria	0.845	Eastern Europe
=33	Romania	0.845	Eastern Europe
35	Serbia	0.833	Southern Europe
36	Russia	0.832	Eastern Europe
37	Belarus	0.824	Eastern Europe
38	North Macedonia	0.815	Southern Europe
39	Albania	0.810	Southern Europe
40	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.804	Southern Europe
41	Moldova	0.785	Eastern Europe
42	Ukraine	0.779	Eastern Europe

No UNDP figure for 2 countries: Monaco, Vatican City.

Questions

Which country in Europe has the highest human development?

Iceland has the highest human development in Europe: an index of 0.972 (2023). Next come Norway (an index of 0.970) and Switzerland (an index of 0.970).

Which country in Europe has the lowest human development?

Ukraine, with an index of 0.779 (2023).

What is the typical human development index of a country in Europe?

The median of the 42 countries in Europe is an index of 0.914: half are above it, half below. The median, not the average, because a few countries at the top would drag an average far above almost everyone.

Where do the figures come from?

The United Nations Development Programme’s index of a long and healthy life, education and a decent standard of living, from 0 to 1. Source: UNDP, 2023. Only independent states are ranked; territories are listed separately. A country’s continent follows Natural Earth; the handful of island states it files under the open ocean are placed by their UN subregion.

Source: UNDP. Countries sharing a value share a rank. All sources.