The following list shows the subnational entities and regions of South America included in the Human Development Index (HDI) report, sorted by their score. The HDI is a summary measure of human development that considers three dimensions: health, education, and standard of living. It is calculated by taking the geometric mean of three normalized indicators: life expectancy at birth, mean and expected years of schooling, and gross national income per capita. The HDI ranges from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating higher human development. The HDI itself was created by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq in 1990, and was further used by the UNDP to measure a country's development in its annual Human Development Reports.
The index was initially calculated at the country level. The Global Data Lab at Radboud University in the Netherlands launched a subnational HDI (SHDI) in 2018, which covers around 1,800 regions in over 160 countries to better reflect the differences within countries. Global Data Lab also provides the Subnational Gender Development Index (SGDI) and data on income, years of education, and life expectancy on the subnational level. The SHDI and SGDI are based on the UNDP's official HDI and GDI, but they use subnational data in addition to national data.
List
Based on the Human Development Index report, as compiled by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Note: The scores here are from the most recent HDI report as of March 26, 2026, which used country data from 2023 to calculate the scores. Rank Region Country National HDI National rank Subnational HDIVery high human development 1 Region Metropolitana 0.910 1 0.938 2 Tarapaca (including Arica and Parinacota) 0.910 2 0.933 3 Valparaiso 0.910 3 0.926 4 Antofagasta 0.910 4 0.924 5 Magallanes and La Antartica Chilena 0.910 5 0.923 6 Montevideo and metropolitan area 0.906 1 0.915 7 Atacama 0.910 6 0.914 8 Patagonia 0.905 1 0.909 9 Cuyo 0.905 2 0.907 10 NOA 0.905 3 0.906 11 Costa Este (Canelones, Maldonado, and Rocha) 0.906 2 0.906 12 Pampeana 0.905 4 0.905 13 Gran Buenos Aires 0.905 5 0.904 14 NEA 0.905 6 0.896 15 Distrito Federal 0.839 1 0.893 16 Centro Sur (Flores, Florida, and Lavalleja) 0.906 3 0.89 17 Coquimbo 0.910 7 0.887 18 West (Ancash, Lima, Callao) 0.820 1 0.884 19 Bio Bio 0.910 8 0.882 20 OHiggins 0.910 9 0.877 21 Centro (Durazno and Tacuarembo) 0.906 4 0.876 22 Rio de Janeiro 0.839 2 0.875 23 Bogota D.C. 0.823 1 0.875 24 Sao Paulo 0.839 3 0.872 25 Litoral Sur (Soriano, Colonia, and San Jose) 0.906 5 0.869 26 Norte (Artigas, Rivera, Cerro Largo, and Trienta y Tres) 0.906 6 0.868 27 Aisen 0.910 10 0.863 28 Litoral Norte (Paysandu, Salto, and Rio Negro) 0.906 7 0.863 29 Santa Catarina 0.839 4 0.858 30 Rio Grande do Sul 0.839 5 0.857 31 San Andres 0.823 2 0.852 32 Parana 0.839 6 0.85 33 Los Lagos (incl Los Rios) 0.910 11 0.85 34 Valle (incl Cali) 0.823 3 0.85 35 Goias 0.839 7 0.846 36 Atlantico (incl Barranquilla) 0.823 4 0.846 37 Maule 0.910 12 0.845 38 Espirito Santo 0.839 8 0.843 39 Mato Grosso do Sul 0.839 9 0.843 40 South (Tacna, Moquegua, Arequipa, Ica, Ayacucho) 0.820 2 0.842 41 Roraima 0.839 10 0.841 42 Arbucania 0.910 13 0.841 43 Quindio 0.823 5 0.84 44 Upper Demerara-Berbice 0.804 1 0.84 45 Minas Gerais 0.839 11 0.838 46 Mato Grosso 0.839 12 0.835 47 Meta 0.823 6 0.835 48 Caldas 0.823 7 0.834 49 Santander 0.823 8 0.833 50 Central (Asuncion, Central) 0.788 1 0.832 51 Cundinamarca 0.823 9 0.83 52 Sierra 0.816 1 0.83 53 Amapa 0.839 13 0.828 54 Antioquia (incl Medellin) 0.823 10 0.828 55 Rio Grande do Norte 0.839 14 0.825 56 Demerara-Mahaica 0.804 2 0.825 57 Tocantins 0.839 15 0.824 58 Sergipe 0.839 16 0.818 59 Risaralda 0.823 11 0.815 60 Coste 0.816 2 0.814 61 Amazonas 0.839 17 0.813 62 Boyaca 0.823 12 0.811 63 Bolivar (Sur and Norte) 0.823 13 0.81 64 Vichada 0.823 14 0.81 65 Pernambuco 0.839 18 0.809 66 Santa Cruz 0.764 1 0.808 67 Guaviare 0.823 15 0.808 68 Rondonia 0.839 19 0.807 69 Bahia 0.839 20 0.806 70 Ceara 0.839 21 0.805 71 Paraiba 0.839 22 0.805 72 Mahaica-Berbice 0.804 3 0.805 73 Casanare 0.823 16 0.804 74 Norte de Santander 0.823 17 0.802High human development 75 Tolima 0.823 18 0.798 76 Sucre 0.823 19 0.795 77 Essequibo Islands-West Demerara 0.804 4 0.795 78 Arauca 0.823 20 0.793 79 East Berbice-Corentyne 0.804 5 0.792 80 Tarija 0.764 2 0.791 81 Para 0.839 23 0.79 82 Acre 0.839 24 0.787 83 Alagoas 0.839 25 0.785 84 North (Tumbes, Piura, Lambayeque, Cajamarca, La Libertad) 0.820 3 0.785 85 Cesar 0.823 21 0.781 86 Piaui 0.839 26 0.78 87 Oriente 0.816 3 0.778 88 Magdalena 0.823 22 0.777 89 Huila 0.823 23 0.776 90 Oruro 0.764 3 0.775 91 South-East (Guaira, Misiones, Paraguari, Neembucu) 0.788 2 0.773 92 Maranhao 0.839 27 0.771 93 Amazonas 0.823 24 0.771 94 Narino 0.823 25 0.771 95 Central (Huancavelica, Huanuco, Junin, Pasco) 0.820 4 0.77 96 Cauca 0.823 26 0.768 97 Federal District 0.721 1 0.768 98 Beni 0.764 4 0.767 99 Caqueta 0.823 27 0.766 100 Putumayo 0.823 28 0.766 101 South-West (Caazapa, Itapua) 0.788 3 0.766 102 La Paz 0.764 5 0.765 103 Cordoba 0.823 29 0.765 104 Pomeroon-Supenaam 0.804 6 0.764 105 North-East (Caaguazu, Alto Parana, Canideyu) 0.788 4 0.763 106 Pando 0.764 6 0.761 107 North-West (Boqueron, Alto Paraguay, Presidente Hayes, Conception, Amambay, San pedro, Cordillera) 0.788 5 0.758 108 North East (Amazonas, Loreto, San Martin, Ucayali) 0.820 5 0.756 109 Cochabamba 0.764 7 0.754 110 Miranda 0.721 2 0.754 111 East (Madre de Dios, Cusco, Puno, Apurimac) 0.820 6 0.752 112 Paramaribo 0.731 1 0.751 113 Aragua 0.721 3 0.748 114 Cuyuni-Mazaruni 0.804 7 0.747 115 Guajira 0.823 30 0.745 116 Choco 0.823 31 0.744 117 Carabobo 0.721 4 0.743 118 Chuquisaca 0.764 8 0.742 119 Nueva Esparta 0.721 5 0.742 120 Vargas 0.721 6 0.742 121 Wanica and Para 0.731 2 0.738 122 Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo 0.804 8 0.735 123 Anzoategui 0.721 7 0.733 124 Nickerie, Coronie, and Saramacca 0.731 3 0.727 125 Bolivar 0.721 8 0.725 126 Barima-Waini 0.804 9 0.72 127 Tachira 0.721 9 0.719 128 Potaro-Siparuni 0.804 10 0.716 129 Guainja 0.823 32 0.715 130 Commewijne and Marowijne 0.731 4 0.713 131 Monagas 0.721 10 0.712 132 Falcon 0.721 11 0.711 133 Merida 0.721 12 0.709 134 Zulia 0.721 13 0.707 135 Amacuros Delta Federal Territory 0.721 14 0.706 136 Amazonas Federal Territory 0.721 15 0.701 137 Lara 0.721 16 0.701Medium human development 138 Cojedes 0.721 17 0.697 139 Sucre 0.721 18 0.69 140 Trujillo 0.721 19 0.689 141 Yaracuy 0.721 20 0.687 142 Potosi 0.764 9 0.684 143 Vaupis 0.823 33 0.683 144 Guarico 0.721 21 0.682 145 Barinas 0.721 22 0.666 146 Portuguesa 0.721 23 0.666 147 Apure 0.721 24 0.648 148 Brokopondo and Sipaliwini 0.731 5 0.596
References