Question

What is Human Development Index – HDI.

Answer 1

Human Development Index – HDI:

• HDI is the most recent indicator of Economic development.
• HDI is prepared by considering economic and social aspects.
• United Nations Development Programme presented Human Development Report in 1990 and HDI was presented as a measurement of development.
• Indian economists contributed in evolving HDI.
• Improvements were introduced in the minimum and maximum values of HDI in the year 2010.
• The determinants of HDI are :
  • Life expectancy,
  • Education and
  • Standard of living.
• The value of HDI ranges from 0 to 1.
• The maximum value of HDI is 1.
• HDI closer to 1, the country is considered more developed.
• HDI farther from 1, i.e., closer to 0, the country is considered less developed.
• In 2014, Norway ranked 1 with HDI 0.944 while India ranked 130 with HDI 0.609 out of 188 countries.
• According to HDI report of 2015, out of 188 countries, 49 countries with average HDI 0.890 are having maximum human development, 56 countries with average HDI 0.735 are having high human development, 38 countries with average HDI 0.614 are having moderate human development while 45 countries with average HDI 0.493 are having low human development.

Importance of HDI:

• HDI is a complete indicator of Economic development.
• Its ultimate objective is only human welfare.
• A rise in the HDI ranking indicates that health and education have improved in the country.
• HDI is a progressive concept. True progress = Economic progress + Social progress
• HDI gives guideline for developing . countries to find the scope for development.

Limitations of HDI:

• Only three social indicators are included in HDI, which is not sufficient. Other social indicators should have been included.
• All three indicators are given equal weightage. In reality they have different importance in different situations.
• It only shows the relative progress.