List of Latin American countries by Human Development Index explained

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 2022).^[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.

Rank		Country		Human Development Index (HDI)
Region	World			HDI value		Change in HDIvalue 2019–22*	Average annual growth (2010–2021)^[2]
			2022	2021	2019^[3]
Very High Human Development
1	44	Chile	0.860	0.855	0.851	0.009
2	48	Argentina	0.849	0.842	0.845	0.004
3	52	Uruguay	0.830	0.809	0.817	0.013
4	57	Panama	0.820	0.805	0.815	0.005
5	64	Costa Rica	0.806	0.809	0.810	0.004
High Human Development
6	77	Mexico	0.781	0.758	0.779	0.002
7	82	Dominican Republic	0.766	0.767	0.756	0.010
8	83	Ecuador	0.765	0.740	0.759	0.006
9	85	Cuba	0.764	0.764	0.783	0.019
10	87	Peru	0.762	0.762	0.777	0.015
11	89	Brazil	0.760	0.754	0.766	0.006
12	91	Colombia	0.758	0.752	0.767	0.009
13	102	Paraguay	0.731	0.717	0.728	0.003
Medium Human Development
14	119		0.699	0.691	0.711	0.012
15	120		0.698	0.692	0.718	0.020
16	127	El Salvador	0.674	0.675	0.673	0.001
17	130	Nicaragua	0.669	0.667	0.660	0.009
18	136	Guatemala	0.629	0.627	0.663	0.034
19	138	Honduras	0.624	0.621	0.634	0.010
20	158	Haiti	0.552	0.535	0.510	0.042
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

Notes and References

1. Book: Human Development Report 2021-22: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World . 8 September 2022 . hdr.undp.org . United Nations Development Programme . 978-9-211-26451-7 . 272–276 . 8 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220908114232/hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf . 8 September 2022 . live.
2. Book: Human Development Report 2021-22: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World . 8 September 2022 . hdr.undp.org . United Nations Development Programme . 978-9-211-26451-7 . 277–280 . 8 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220908114232/hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf . 8 September 2022 . live.
3. Web site: 2020 . 2020 Human Development Report . 27 December 2020 . United Nations Development Programme.