Worst Countries to Live in

United Nations Human Development Index 2023.

Note: Scores rank from 0.0 to 1.0. Higher means a better quality of living.

Nobody wants to live in one of the worst countries on the planet.

That would literally stink in many instances, or you may be stuck in a murderous row.

Learn about what the worst countries are, why these places are so bad, and how to avoid living there.

Also, take a detailed look at the Human Development Index used in rating countries from best to worst for human inhabitants.

What Are the Worst Countries

If you live in a country with a low quality of living, chances are that country is on the list of the worst countries for human residency.

The United Nations uses the Human Development Index (HDI) to determine the level of quality in a country.

Similar to the cost of living index, the HDI uses a numerical scale.

The lower the country falls on the index, the worse that country is for its residents.

Being able to improve the HDI of a country is the goal for any government and its people, who will have a better quality of life as a result.

What is the Human Development Index Ranking

To look at the rank of the best to worst countries, we use a scale from 0.0 to 1.0.

This scale goes from the worst at 0.0 to the best at 1.0.

A country with a 0.0 does not exist, thankfully.

The lowest the scale goes is 0.385 in South Sudan, which is the worst country according to this scale.

The highest ranking is 0.962 for Switzerland, making that country the best place to live.

Choose where you want to move to based on a country’s HDI.

This will give you the best indication of the quality of life you will receive when moving to that country.

In addition, you can determine how well your current quality of life is in the country where you reside.

How Many Countries Are Rated Along the HDI

There are about 15 countries with a 0.4 average on the HDI.

Twice that many countries are rated on the 0.5 index average, with 30 countries, and there are also about 30 countries with a 0.6 rating.

Approximately 50 countries have a 0.7 average rating on the index.

There are around 40 countries with a 0.8 average rating, while approximately 25 countries rate 0.9 to 1.0.

The majority of countries have between 0.71 and 0.79 ratings on the index.

However, the index follows the standard Bell Curve in its distribution.