Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index

Description: The Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) is a summary measure of key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, a good education, and a decent standard of living, adjusted for inequalities in these dimensions. Higher values indicate higher and more equal human development.
Data source: UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Date range: 2010-2023
Last updated: 2025-05-07
Next expected update: 2026-12-02
Managed by: Lucas Rodés-Guirao

The Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) adjusts the Human Development Index (HDI) for inequality in the distribution of each dimension across the population.
It is based on a distribution-sensitive class of composite indices proposed by Foster, Lopez-Calva and Szekely (2005), which draws on the Atkinson (1970) family of inequality measures. It is computed as a geometric mean of inequality-adjusted dimensional indices.
The IHDI accounts for inequalities in HDI dimensions by "discounting" each dimension's average value according to its level of inequality. The IHDI value equals the HDI value when there is no inequality across people but falls below the HDI value as inequality rises. In this sense the IHDI measures the level of human development when inequality is accounted for.

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Data is originally sourced from UNDESA complete life tables (health), harmonized household-survey micro-datasets (education) and the UNU-WIDER WIID (income).

Frequently asked questions

How did Our World in Data process this data?

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

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Notes on our processing step for this indicator

We calculated averages over continents and income groups by taking the population-weighted average of the countries in each group. If less than 80% of countries in an area report data for a given year, we do not calculate the average for that area.

Data sources

UNDP, Human Development Report – Human Development Report

Artificial intelligence (AI) has broken into a dizzying gallop. While AI feats grab headlines, they privilege technology in a make-believe vacuum, obscuring what really matters: people's choices.

The choices that people have and can realize, within ever expanding freedoms, are essential to human development, whose goal is for people to live lives they value and have reason to value. A world with AI is flush with choices the exercise of which is both a matter of human development and a means to advance it.

Going forward, development depends less on what AI can do—not on how human-like it is perceived to be—and more on mobilizing people's imaginations to reshape economies and societies to make the most of it. Instead of trying vainly to predict what will happen, the 2025's Human Development Report asks what choices can be made so that new development pathways for all countries dot the horizon, helping everyone have a shot at thriving in a world with AI.

For more details, refer to https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/documentation-and-downloads

Retrieved on

May 7, 2025

Retrieved from

https://hdr.undp.org/

Citation

This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data.

UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). 2025. Human Development Report 2025: A matter of choice: People and possibilities in the age of AI. New York.

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To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index”. Our World in Data (2026). Data adapted from UNDP, Human Development Report. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20261102-112946/grapher/inequality-adjusted-human-development-index.html [online resource] (archived on November 2, 2026).

How to cite this data

If you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index – UNDP” [dataset]. UNDP, Human Development Report, “Human Development Report” [original data]. Retrieved November 2, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20261102-112946/grapher/inequality-adjusted-human-development-index.html (archived on November 2, 2026).

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