Human Development & Quality of Life in Burkina Faso
Human Development
Burkina Faso's 2023 HDI is 0.459, placing it 186 in UNDP's table and in the low human development category. The aggregate hides useful detail: The income component uses GNI per capita of $2,391 in 2021 PPP dollars. The profile also records that the GII reading of 0.555 (rank 146) is an important counterpoint to the aggregate HDI.
What sits inside Burkina Faso's HDI
The 2023 HDI profile for Burkina Faso rests on life expectancy of 61.1, schooling measures of 8.7 expected years and 2.3 mean years, plus GNI per capita of $2,391 in 2021 PPP dollars. The page keeps those components visible so the composite index is not read in isolation. When using this figure elsewhere, keep missing fields explicitly missing before using the result as a shorthand for lived experience.
Inequality changes the headline
Burkina Faso's IHDI adjusts the headline index for inequality in health, education and income outcomes. It describes distribution, so it is not used here as a quality-of-life rating. For a like-for-like reading, use the UNDP definition rather than a proxy rather than creating a broader claim than the source supports.
Gender and planetary-pressure adjustments
Beyond HDI, Burkina Faso's UNDP profile also reports GDI 0.881, GII 0.555, PHDI 0.453. Their scopes differ, which is why the page presents them side by side rather than blending them.
Quality-of-life coverage is conditional
No comparable OECD life-satisfaction observation is published on this page for Burkina Faso. Missing source coverage is shown as a limitation, not filled with an estimate.
What Burkina Faso's numbers say together
Burkina Faso's additional indicators read as IHDI 0.273 with a 40.5% loss; PHDI 0.453 after a 1.3% adjustment; GDI 0.881. They complement one another, but none is treated as a substitute for another.
HDI for Burkina Faso stands at 0.459 in 2023, with UNDP rank 186. It is a development benchmark based on three dimensions, not an all-purpose national score. For a like-for-like reading, avoid turning the indicator into a general country score because the index and its adjustments have different meanings.
The IHDI is 0.273, and UNDP reports an overall loss of 40.5% relative to the headline index.
The GDI value is 0.881 in group 5; it should be read alongside, not merged into, HDI.
The PHDI is 0.453, with a 1.3% adjustment from the HDI value in UNDP's 2023 table.
Frequently asked questions
What is Burkina Faso's HDI?
For the 2023 observation year, UNDP reports HDI 0.459 and rank 186 for Burkina Faso.
How does inequality affect Burkina Faso's HDI?
IHDI for Burkina Faso is 0.273 in the 2023 table. That represents a 40.5% reduction from the headline development index.
Why is there no life satisfaction score on this page?
This profile does not fill the quality-of-life section for Burkina Faso simply to complete the layout.
Is HDI the same as quality of life?
No. HDI has three core dimensions: health, knowledge and standard of living. The page treats life satisfaction as a separate experience-based measure, not part of the UNDP index.
Sources & methodology
Sources for the development indicators and definitions shown above.
View sources used for this page
Primary source for 2023 HDI and its components, plus IHDI, GDI, GII and PHDI where reported.
Report edition underlying the 2023 human-development indices and ranking.
Data note: Reference years are shown with each indicator; unavailable observations remain unfilled.