List of South African Provinces by Human Development Index (2026)

This is a list of the provinces of South Africa by Human Development Index as of 2026, according to the Global Data Lab.

A Human Development Index above 0.7 is considered high, while a Human Development Index below 0.7 is considered medium.

Below is a table showing the Human Development Index of South Africa’s provinces in 2026.

Rank	Province	HDI (2026)
1	Western Cape	0.751
2	Gauteng	0.736
3	Limpopo	0.714
4	Free State	0.712
5	KwaZulu-Natal	0.710
6	Northern Cape	0.701
7	Mpumalanga	0.678
8	North West	0.676
9	Eastern Cape	0.675
	South Africa	0.713

According to the data in the above table, Western Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and Northern Cape have a high Human Development Index, while Mpumalanga, North West, and Eastern Cape have a medium Human Development Index.

Historical data

Below is a table showing the Human Development Index of South Africa’s provinces in the years 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020.

Province	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Western Cape	0.728	0.739	0.705	0.690	0.700	0.734	0.756	0.766
Gauteng	0.713	0.723	0.692	0.681	0.695	0.731	0.741	0.750
Free State	0.663	0.672	0.646	0.636	0.653	0.692	0.718	0.726
Limpopo	0.612	0.619	0.604	0.608	0.638	0.688	0.721	0.727
KwaZulu-Natal	0.602	0.610	0.594	0.599	0.630	0.682	0.716	0.724
Northern Cape	0.640	0.649	0.624	0.617	0.635	0.677	0.708	0.715
Mpumalanga	0.623	0.631	0.610	0.605	0.628	0.668	0.685	0.692
North West	0.641	0.649	0.624	0.614	0.630	0.665	0.683	0.690
Eastern Cape	0.594	0.601	0.583	0.583	0.608	0.654	0.682	0.688
South Africa	0.647	0.656	0.633	0.630	0.653	0.696	0.719	0.727