List of Japanese prefectures by Human Development Index

Map of Japanese regions and prefectures by HDI in 2017.
Legend:

  > 0.930

  0.900 – 0.930

  0.890 – 0.900

  < 0.890

This article presents a list of Japanese regions by Human Development Index as of 2021. This article also includes a list of Japanese prefectures by historical HDI in 1990, 1995 and 2000 further below.

Japanese regions by HDI (2021)

This is a list regions of Japan by Human Development Index calculated using the new methodology.

Rank	Region	HDI (2021)
Very high human development
1	Southern Kantō (Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano)	0.951
2	Kansai (Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama)	0.928
–	Japan	0.925
3	Tōkai (Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie)	0.924
4	Chūgoku (Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi)	0.921
5	Northern Kantō, Koshin (Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma)	0.913
6	Hokuriku (Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui)	0.908
7	Shikoku (Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi)	0.905
	Kyushu (Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa)
9	Hokkaido	0.900
10	Tōhoku (Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima)	0.893

Japanese prefectures by past HDI using old methodology

This is a list of Japanese prefectures by Human Development Index calculated using the old methodology. This data was taken from the 2007 paper "Gross National Happiness and Material Welfare in Bhutan and Japan" (Tashi Choden, Takayoshi Kusago, Kokoro Shirai, Centre for Bhutan Studies, Osaka University).

Map of the prefectures of Japan by HDI as of 2000.

Rank	Prefecture	HDI (1990)	HDI (1995)	HDI (2000)
1	Tokyo	0.9296	0.9448	0.9667
2	Aichi	0.9115	0.9265	0.9460
3	Shiga	0.9080	0.9229	0.9426
4	Shizuoka	0.9056	0.9204	0.9402
5	Fukui	0.9027	0.9204	0.9401
6	Toyama	0.9031	0.9205	0.9392
7	Osaka	0.9003	0.9177	0.9390
8	Nagano	0.8980	0.9148	0.9365
9	Ishikawa	0.8991	0.9163	0.9364
10	Hiroshima	0.9032	0.9170	0.9361
11	Kyoto	0.8952	0.9123	0.9333
12	Mie	0.8934	0.9123	0.9329
13	Kanagawa	0.8996	0.9119	0.9324
14	Yamanashi	0.8944	0.9094	0.9319
15	Okayama	0.8992	0.9152	0.9316
16	Kagawa	0.8945	0.9122	0.9304
17	Gunma	0.8957	0.9117	0.9303
18	Tochigi	0.8955	0.9107	0.9294
19	Niigata	0.8921	0.9095	0.9290
20	Hyōgo	0.8950	0.9086	0.9290
21	Ōita	0.8891	0.9076	0.9285
22	Gifu	0.8921	0.9070	0.9263
23	Hokkaidō	0.8863	0.9068	0.9260
24	Ibaraki	0.8928	0.9080	0.9259
25	Yamaguchi	0.8924	0.9084	0.9258
26	Miyagi	0.8926	0.9071	0.9247
27	Fukushima	0.8880	0.9044	0.9241
28	Tottori	0.8887	0.9045	0.9239
29	Shimane	0.8858	0.9021	0.9231
30	Fukuoka	0.8896	0.9061	0.9228
31	Kumamoto	0.8872	0.9045	0.9225
32	Ehime	0.8862	0.9047	0.9221
33	Chiba	0.8868	0.9019	0.9219
34	Yamagata	0.8855	0.9014	0.9216
35	Saga	0.8810	0.9021	0.9189
36	Iwate	0.8792	0.8998	0.9186
37	Tokushima	0.8831	0.9005	0.9182
38	Nara	0.8794	0.8944	0.9169
39	Saitama	0.8811	0.8956	0.9166
40	Kōchi	0.8781	0.8964	0.9156
41	Wakayama	0.8770	0.8957	0.9155
42	Miyazaki	0.8780	0.8959	0.9148
43	Akita	0.8777	0.8951	0.9142
44	Nagasaki	0.8749	0.8949	0.9127
45	Kagoshima	0.8762	0.8938	0.9127
46	Okinawa	0.8810	0.8940	0.9111
47	Aomori	0.8698	0.8877	0.9065

References

• Gross National Happiness and Material Welfare in Bhutan and Japan