The Human Development Index in Canada: Ranking the Provinces and Territories Internationally

Alisaleh Shariati

No 2025-03, CSLS Research Reports from Centre for the Study of Living Standards

Abstract: This study provides internationally comparable estimates of the United Nations’ Human Development Index (HDI) for Canadian provinces and territories over the 2000-2023 period. The HDI is a composite index composed of three dimensions (life expectancy, education and income) measured by four indicators (life expectancy at birth, average years of education, expected years of schooling and gross national income per capita). We first replicate the estimates for Canada from the most recent Human Development Report (HDR, which includes data up to 2023 and was released in May 2025) using Statistics Canada data. We then apply the same methodology to generate estimates for the provinces and territories, and finally, make these estimates internationally comparable by scaling them to Canada’s in the most recent HDR. This methodology allows Canada’s provinces and territories to be ranked in the HDR international tables for the overall HDI as well as its components. We find that the highest HDI score in 2023 belongs to Ontario, followed closely by Quebec and Alberta, which would rank 15 th , 16th and 17th internationally, while the lowest-ranking region of Nunavut, would place 75 th . Overall, our findings highlight substantial regional variation in human development across Canada, which are concealed by the national HDI, as well as a gradual decline in Canada’s relative HDI ranking from 1 st in 1990s to 16th in 2023.

Keywords: Human Development Index; HDI; Canadian provinces; territories; international ranking; life expectancy; education; income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-10
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