Worst countries in the world: The Human Development Index (HDI), the Global Peace Index, and the Economic Misery Index are some of the global measures that show which countries will be the worst to live in in 2025. These rankings come with an observance of which countries have the worst public services, political instability, corruption, and extreme poverty. For example, South Sudan's GDP is going down by more than 4%, and Argentina's inflation is going up to more than 200%, which is a record high.
The Central African Republic, which is always at the bottom of the HDI, has a broken health system and is still in the middle of a civil war. George Orwell once said, "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." These rankings show some hard truths about inequality around the world.
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List of Worst Countries to Live in 2025 by HDI Ranking
According to UN HDI data and reports from WorldPopulationReview, the following rankings show that Central African and conflict-affected countries will always be at the bottom of the list of worst countries in the world in 2025.
| Rank | Worst Country to Live In | HDI Rank (UN, latest) | HDI Score | Key Challenges |
| 1 | South Sudan | lowest (<195) | ~0.38 | Civil conflict, extreme poverty, limited services |
| 2 | Central African Republic | ~191–193 | ~0.39 | Ongoing violence, governance collapse, poor healthcare |
| 3 | Chad | ~190 | ~0.39 | Economic instability, conflict, high infant mortality |
| 4 | Niger | ~189 | ~0.40 | Severe poverty, poor health infrastructure, highest fertility rates |
| 5 | Yemen | ~184 | ~0.47 | Protracted war, humanitarian crisis, infrastructure collapse |
Top 25 Countries with the Lowest Quality of Life in 2025
— Global Statistics (@Globalstats11) July 5, 2025
1. 🇳🇬 Nigeria
2. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh
3. 🇻🇪 Venezuela
4. 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
5. 🇪🇬 Egypt
6. 🇮🇷 Iran
7. 🇵🇪 Peru
8. 🇻🇳 Vietnam
9. 🇵🇭 Philippines
10. 🇱🇧 Lebanon
11. 🇰🇪 Kenya
12. 🇮🇩 Indonesia
13. 🇵🇰 Pakistan
14. 🇦🇱 Albania
15. 🇹🇭 Thailand… pic.twitter.com/WtehLzyYK7
What Makes These Countries the Worst in the World?
The countries listed among the worst to live in 2025 face a combination of deeply rooted crises that severely impact daily life. The most important of these is economic misery, which makes it almost impossible for people to afford basic needs because of high inflation, widespread unemployment, and GDP growth that is either stagnant or negative. In a lot of these countries, the economy is either falling apart or being held hostage by instability, which keeps millions of people poor.
Human development failures are also a big part of the problem, along with economic problems. These countries have some of the lowest Human Development Index (HDI) scores in the world because they don't have enough access to healthcare, education, and clean water. Life expectancy is low, and literacy rates aren't going up. Whole generations don't have any real chances to get ahead.
Conflict and fear are also big reasons. Civilians are always in danger because of civil wars, insurgent violence, ethnic clashes, and the lack of law enforcement. Many people have to deal with being displaced, armed checkpoints, and the threat of violence from either the government or non-government groups every day.
Lastly, these countries can't get better because of widespread corruption and bad government. In countries where kleptocracy is common, political elites steal the country's wealth, and public services are either underfunded or don't work at all.
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To sum up, these five countries rank among the worst places to live in 2025 due to overlapping crises: economic collapse, widespread corruption, political violence, and neglected development. While conditions may slowly improve, right now these nations represent the toughest living environments on the planet.
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