Ghana Ranks 18th in Africa on Development Index
By Praisebell Rosemond Larbi
Ghana has been ranked 18th in Africa among the continent’s most developed countries, according to the 2025 World Population Review, highlighting only modest progress in the country’s overall human development outcomes.
The ranking places Ghana behind several smaller and less-populous African countries, including São Tomé and Príncipe and the Republic of Congo, both of which recorded higher development outcomes in the latest assessment.
Ghana posted a Human Development Index (HDI) score of 0.628, categorising the country within the “medium human development” bracket. The HDI is a composite index that measures long-term progress across three key dimensions of development: income levels, education, and health outcomes, particularly life expectancy.
At the top of the African rankings, Seychelles emerged as the most developed country on the continent and was classified within the “very high human development” category. Mauritius followed closely in second place, also achieving very high development status.
Countries ranked from third to tenth were Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa, Gabon, Botswana, Libya, and Morocco. All eight countries were similarly classified as very highly developed, reflecting stronger performance across income, education, healthcare access, and overall living standards.
The World Population Review notes that while the term “developed country” is often loosely linked to high-income economies and modern infrastructure, such a definition does not fully capture the complex and multidimensional nature of development. As a result, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) relies on a broader framework to assess development outcomes.
Under the UNDP methodology, countries are evaluated based on indicators including gross national income per capita, literacy and school enrolment rates, life expectancy at birth, political stability, and access to essential services such as electricity, clean water, and healthcare.
These indicators are aggregated into the HDI score, which provides a more comprehensive picture of a country’s capacity to improve the well-being and quality of life of its population.
Ghana’s placement suggests steady but limited gains in human development, underscoring persistent challenges in education quality, healthcare delivery, and income growth, even as peer countries make faster progress across key social and economic indicators.
