Human Development & Quality of Life in Kuwait
Human Development
UNDP places Kuwait at rank 52 with a 2023 HDI of 0.852, a very high human development result. What makes the country profile more informative than the rank alone is that the health component is anchored by life expectancy of 80.4 years. Separately, Education combines 15.9 expected years of schooling with 7.6 mean years already attained.
What sits inside Kuwait's HDI
In the figures presented here, the UNDP inputs behind Kuwait's HDI are 80.4 for life expectancy, 15.9 for expected years of schooling, 7.6 for mean years of schooling and $56,612 GNI per capita in 2021 PPP dollars. These figures show what sits behind the composite score.
Gender and planetary-pressure adjustments
For Kuwait, the available complementary indices are GDI 1.011, GII 0.188, PHDI 0.531. These measures answer different questions, so they are kept separate.
Quality-of-life coverage is conditional
For Kuwait, the page has no verified OECD life-satisfaction observation to report. No value is inferred when the underlying source does not publish one.
What Kuwait's numbers say together
For a fuller view of Kuwait, the page shows PHDI 0.531 after a 37.7% adjustment; GDI 1.011. Reading them together is useful, but combining them would obscure their different definitions.
For 2023, Kuwait records HDI 0.852 and rank 52 in the UNDP table. The result should be read as a composite of health, schooling and income outcomes. For the profile as a whole, read the value with its stated unit so the source year is not silently treated as the publication year.
The GDI value is 1.011 in group 1; it should be read alongside, not merged into, HDI.
The PHDI is 0.531, with a 37.7% adjustment from the HDI value in UNDP's 2023 table.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kuwait's HDI?
Kuwait's 2023 Human Development Index is 0.852, corresponding to UNDP rank 52 in the 2025 report.
Is an inequality-adjusted HDI available for Kuwait?
No IHDI observation is reproduced for Kuwait because the relevant UNDP table is blank. A missing source value is shown as unavailable.
Why is there no life satisfaction score on this page?
Kuwait's page adds a quality-of-life measure only when a comparable dated observation can be sourced. The profile does not turn an absent source observation into a calculated replacement.
Is HDI the same as quality of life?
No. The Human Development Index summarizes health, education and income outcomes. Life satisfaction is shown only as a separate subjective well-being measure. For the evidence on this page, separate the measure from subjective well-being so the page stays faithful to the published evidence.
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.