The Human Development Index (HDI) is a measure of overall well-being that goes beyond income. It was created by economist Mahbub ul Haq with the help of Amartya Sen in 1990. The HDI is published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Three Dimensions of HDI
The HDI combines three key areas of human life into a single value between 0 and 1.
- Health - measured by life expectancy at birth.
- Education - measured by mean years and expected years of schooling.
- Standard of living - measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.
How HDI is Read
- A value closer to 1 means higher human development.
- Countries are ranked as very high, high, medium and low human development.
- It is published in the annual Human Development Report (HDR).
Advertisement
Related Indices by UNDP
- IHDI - Inequality-adjusted HDI.
- GII - Gender Inequality Index.
- MPI - Multidimensional Poverty Index.
- GDI - Gender Development Index.
India and HDI
- India is generally placed in the medium human development category.
- The first Human Development Report was released in 1990.
- Improving health and education raises a country's HDI rank.
Quick Revision Points
- HDI created by Mahbub ul Haq in 1990.
- Published by the UNDP in the Human Development Report.
- HDI value ranges from 0 to 1.
- Three dimensions: health, education, income (GNI per capita).
- Health is measured by life expectancy at birth.
- Other UNDP indices: GII, MPI, IHDI.
- India falls under medium human development.