What are the most and least developed regions in Africa?

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The Human Development is a composite index by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Human Development Report Office. It is used to measure a country’s development. The score is based on life expectancy, education and per capita income indicators.

The Human Development Index is normally calculated on the national level. The Global Data Lab of the Nijmegen Radboud University has calculated the HDI at the subnational level.

According to the HDI, Africa is the least developed continent in the world. Especially the Sahel, the area just south of the Sahel and Somalia, are the least developed areas in the world. Chad and Somalia dominate the global bottom 10 of least developed regions.

We do see that northern Africa and southern Africa are the most developed regions in Africa. Mauritius, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Botswana and South Africa are the most developed countries in Africa. The French overseas territories of Réunion and Mayotte also score very well. Réunion, with a score of 0.844, is the most developed region in Africa.

Curious about the subregional HDI in Asia? Check out this map.