Human Development & Quality of Life in Tuvalu
HDI 0.689 · UNDP rank 129 · latest published data
For 2023, Tuvalu records HDI 0.689 and UNDP rank 129; that headline belongs to the medium human development category. The headline needs context: The gender-development lens adds GDI 0.969 in UNDP group 2, which is kept separate from the headline HDI. Another part of the dashboard shows that the health component is anchored by life expectancy of 67.1 years.
What sits inside Tuvalu's HDI
For Tuvalu, health contributes through life expectancy of 67.1; education through 12.4 expected and 10.8 mean years of schooling; and income through GNI per capita of $7,006 in 2021 PPP dollars. Those are the published inputs behind the 2023 HDI.
Inequality changes the headline
Tuvalu'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.
Gender and planetary-pressure adjustments
The broader UNDP dashboard for Tuvalu adds GDI 0.969 to the HDI result. They complement one another, but none is treated as a substitute for another.
Quality-of-life coverage is conditional
A comparable life-satisfaction observation was not available in the OECD extract used for Tuvalu. The absence of a published observation is preserved explicitly. For a like-for-like reading, keep the observation year attached because the index and its adjustments have different meanings.
What Tuvalu's numbers say together
Tuvalu's non-headline measures include IHDI 0.578 with a 16.1% loss; GDI 0.969. They are related indicators, but they should not be combined into one country score.
For 2023, Tuvalu records HDI 0.689 and rank 129 in the UNDP table. The result should be read as a composite of health, schooling and income outcomes. When the indicator is reused, do not substitute a different denominator so the number is not mistaken for another indicator.
The IHDI is 0.578, and UNDP reports an overall loss of 16.1% relative to the headline index.
The GDI value is 0.969 in group 2; it should be read alongside, not merged into, HDI.
Frequently asked questions
What is Tuvalu's HDI?
The UNDP table records Tuvalu at 0.689 on HDI in 2023, with global rank 129.
How does inequality affect Tuvalu's HDI?
IHDI for Tuvalu is 0.578 in the 2023 table. That represents a 16.1% reduction from the headline development index. When looking across the UNDP tables, keep unlike indices separate so the source year is not silently treated as the publication year.
Why is there no life satisfaction score on this page?
This profile does not fill the quality-of-life section for Tuvalu simply to complete the layout. When looking across the UNDP tables, avoid turning the indicator into a general country score instead of collapsing separate dimensions into one label.
Is HDI the same as quality of life?
No. HDI has three core dimensions: health, knowledge and standard of living. A life-satisfaction result is not an input to HDI and remains a separate quality-of-life signal.
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.