HUMAN

DEVELOPMENT
INDEX
WHAT IS HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
• In 1990, the first Human Development Report introduced a
new approach for advancing human wellbeing.
• Human development – or the human development approach
– is about expanding the richness of human life, rather
than simply the richness of the economy in which human
beings live.
• It is focused on people, their opportunities and choices.
HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT FOCUS
• People: improving the lives that people lead

• Opportunities: giving people more freedom to live lives that

they value. Developing people’s abilities and giving them a
chance to use them.

• Choice: Providing people with opportunities, not insisting

that they make use of them. People should have the
freedom to develop to their full potential and to have a
reasonable chance of leading productive and creative lives
that they value.
GNI per capita PPP:
It is gross national income in purchasing power parity (PPP) divided by mid-year population. 4

INTRODUCTION
HDI is a social indicator that gives a summarized measure of
human development. It is a summary of country's average
achievements in three basic aspects of human development:
Health, knowledge and standard of living.
HDI is a measure of country’s development in three dimensions
of human life:
1. a long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at
birth;
2. knowledge, as measured by mean years of schooling and
expected years of schooling; and
3. a decent standard of living, as measured by GNI per capita
in PPP terms in US$.
HDI 5

HOW IS HDI INDEX

CALCULATED?
Goalposts are set as minimum and maximum dimensions of
these variables. Where does each country stand in respect to
these goalposts.
This is expressed as a value between 0 and 1.
The higher a country's human development, the higher its HDI
value.
WHO RELEASED HDI
UNDP – United Nations Development Programme released the
Human Development Index every year. In the form of Human
Development Data
 CONSEQUENCES
AND IMPLICATIONS
Human Development Index
HDI 7

CONSEQUENCES AND IMPLICATIONS

1. Capture the attention of policy makers, media and NGOs.
2. Change the focus from the usual economic statistics to human
outcomes.
3. Development of the country should be assessed by the people and their
capabilities, not just economic growth.
4. Shows how 2 countries with same income per person can have widely
different human development outcomes.
5. Stimulate debate on government policies concerning health and
education
6. Highlighting differences within countries – INTERNAL
DISPARITIES, between provinces or states, and across genders,
ethnicities and other socioeconomic groupings.
 8

“
THE HDI WAS CREATED TO
EMPHASIZE THAT PEOPLE AND
THEIR CAPABILITIES SHOULD BE
THE ULTIMATE CRITERIA FOR
ASSESSING THE DEVELOPMENT
OF A COUNTRY, NOT ECONOMIC
GROWTH ALONE..
UNDP ”
HDI 9

LIMITATIONS OF HDI
1. HDI simplifies and captures only part of what human development
entails.
2. Does not reflect on inequalities, poverty, human security,
empowerment, etc.
3. HDRO has other indices to cater to the key issues of human
development, inequality, gender disparity and poverty.
4. HDI does not give a fuller picture of a country's level of human
development.
 HDI 2022

Human Development Index

Presentation title 11

HDI 2022

DATE BY ISSUE FOCUS INDIA’S RANK

the world’s total 3I

2021-22 – 132
human development Investment
September 20, 2022 UNDP 2020 – 130
has declined for two Insurance
(depleting condition)
years in a row Innovation
 12

IMPROVEMENTS IN HDI
INDIA USA

• Added 0.003 to HDI since 1990 • Added 0.001 since 1990

HDI 13
HDI 14
HDI 15
 UNDERSTANDING HDI

• Very high human development countries – Rank 1 to 66

• High human development countries – Rank 67 to 115
• Medium human development countries – Rank 116 to 159
• Low human development countries – Rank 160 to 191

• Rank 1 – Switzerland
• India – 132
• Rank 191 – South Sudan
• Rank 18 – United Kingdom
• Rank 21 - United States
• Rank 11 - Finland
HDI 17

QUICK SUMMARY
Simple composite measure of a nation’s longevity, education and income.

LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE KNOWLEDGE DECENT STANDARD OF

LIVING
• Life expectancy at • Expected years of • GNI per capita
birth schooling
• Mean years of
schooling