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The Human Development Index

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic that ranks countries based on their level of human development. It categorizes countries as having very high, high, medium, or low human development. The HDI is composed of data related to life expectancy, education, and income levels. It is calculated using a formula and published in the United Nations' annual Human Development Report to evaluate development based on human well-being rather than just economic measures.

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53 views

The Human Development Index

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic that ranks countries based on their level of human development. It categorizes countries as having very high, high, medium, or low human development. The HDI is composed of data related to life expectancy, education, and income levels. It is calculated using a formula and published in the United Nations' annual Human Development Report to evaluate development based on human well-being rather than just economic measures.

Uploaded by

Niraj Singh
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level

of "human development" and separate "very high human development", "high human
development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries. The
statistic is composed from data on life expectancy, education and per-capita GNI (as an indicator
of standard of living or income) collected at the national level using the formula given in the
Methodology section below. There are also HDI for states, cities, villages, etc. by local
organizations or companies.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Origins
 2 Dimensions and calculation
o 2.1 New methodology
o 2.2 Old methodology
 3 2010 report
o 3.1 Inequality-adjusted HDI
o 3.2 Countries not included
o 3.3 Non-UN members (not calculated by UNDP)
 4 2009 Human Development Report
o 4.1 Countries not included
 5 2008 statistical update
o 5.1 Countries not included
 6 2007/2008 Human Development Report
 7 Past top countries
o 7.1 In each original report
 8 Future HDI projections
o 8.1 2030 list
 9 Multidimensional Poverty Index
 10 Criticisms
 11 See also
 12 References
 13 External links

[edit] Origins
The origins of the HDI are to be found in the United Nations Development Programme's Human
Development Reports. These were devised and launched by Pakistani Economist Mahbub ul Haq
in 1990 and had the explicit purpose ‘‘to shift the focus of development economics from national
income accounting to people centered policies’’. To produce the Human Development Reports,
Mahbub ul Haq brought together a group of well-known development economists including:
Paul Streeten, Frances Stewart, Gustav Ranis, Keith Griffin, Sudhir Anand and Meghnad Desai.
But it was Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s work on capabilities and functionings that provided the
underlying conceptual framework. Haq was sure that a simple composite measure of human
development was needed in order to convince the public, academics, and policy-makers that they
can and should evaluate development not only by economic advances but also improvements in
human well-being. Sen initially opposed this idea, but he went on to help Haq develop the
Human Development Index (HDI). Sen was worried that it was difficult to capture the full
complexity of human capabilities in a single index but Haq persuaded him that only a single
number would shift the attention of policy-makers from concentration on economic to human
well-being.[2][3]

The HDI has been used since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme for its
annual Human Development Reports.

Other organizations and companies also make HD Indices with differing formulae and results
(see below).

[edit] Dimensions and calculation


Starting with the 2010 Human Development Report the HDI combines three dimensions:

 A long and healthy life: Life expectancy at birth


 Access to knowledge: Mean years of schooling and Expected years of schooling
 A decent standard of living: GNI per capita (PPP US$)

The HDI combined three dimensions up until its 2009 report:

 Life expectancy at birth, as an index of population health and longevity


 Knowledge and education, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds
weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio
(with one-third weighting).
 Standard of living, as indicated by the natural logarithm of gross domestic product per
capita at purchasing power parity.

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