Human development index
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a measure of economic development
and economic welfare. The Human Development Index examines three important
criteria of economic development (life expectancy, education and income levels)
and uses this to create an overall score between 0 and 1.
1 indicates a high level of economic development,
0 a very low level.
The HDI combines:
1. Life Expectancy Index. Average life expectancy compared to a global
expected life expectancy.
2. Education Index
1. mean years of schooling
2. expected years of schooling
3. Income Index (GNI at PPP)
Components of the Human Development Index
What the HDI shows
The HDI gives an overall index of economic development. It has some
limitations and excludes several factors that might have been included, but
it does give a rough ability to make comparisons on issues of economic
welfare – much more than just using GDP statistics show.
Limitations of Human Development Index
Wide divergence within countries. For example, countries like China and
Kenya have widely different HDI scores depending on the region in
question. (e.g. north China poorer than south-east)
HDI reflects long-term changes (e.g. life expectancy) and may not respond
to recent short-term changes.
Higher national wealth does not indicate welfare. GNI may not necessarily
increase economic welfare; it depends on how it is spent. For example, if a
country spends more on military spending – this is reflected in higher GNI,
but welfare could actually be lower.
Also, higher GNI per capita may hide widespread inequality within a
country. Some countries with higher real GNI per capita have high levels of
inequality (e.g. Russia, Saudi Arabia)
However, HDI can highlight countries with similar GNI per capita but
different levels of economic development.
Economic welfare depends on several other factors, such as – threat of
war, levels of pollution, access to clean drinking water e.t.c.
Top 10 Human Development Index
Components of HDI score 2011
Life Mean Expected
(HDI) expectancy years of years of (GNI) per capita
at birth schooling schooling
HDI (Constant 2005
Value (years) (years) (years)
rank PPP$)
2011 2011 2011a 2011a 2011
1 Norway 0.943 81.1 12.6 17.3 47,557
2 Australia 0.929 81.9 12.0 18.0 34,431
3 Netherlands 0.910 80.7 11.6 b 16.8 36,402
4 United States 0.910 78.5 12.4 16.0 43,017
5 New Zealand 0.908 80.7 12.5 18.0 23,737
6 Canada 0.908 81.0 12.1 b 16.0 35,166
7 Ireland 0.908 80.6 11.6 18.0 29,322
8 Liechtenstein 0.905 79.6 10.3 c 14.7 83,717
9 Germany 0.905 80.4 12.2 b 15.9 34,854
10 Sweden 0.904 81.4 11.7 b 15.7 35,837
Lowest 10 Counties for HDI
Life Mean Expected (GNI)
(HDI) expectancy years of years of per
at birth schooling schooling capita
177 Eritrea 0.349 61.6 3.4 4.8 536
178 Guinea 0.344 54.1 1.6 w 8.6 863
Central African
179 0.343 48.4 3.5 6.6 707
Republic
180 Sierra Leone 0.336 47.8 2.9 7.2 737
181 Burkina Faso 0.331 55.4 1.3 r 6.3 1,141
182 Liberia 0.329 56.8 3.9 11.0 265
183 Chad 0.328 49.6 1.5 i 7.2 1,105
184 Mozambique 0.322 50.2 1.2 9.2 898
185 Burundi 0.316 50.4 2.7 10.5 368
186 Niger 0.295 54.7 1.4 4.9 641
Congo
187 (Democratic 0.286 48.4 3.5 8.2 280
Republic of the)
Notes:
Before 2011, the human development index used adult literacy rates rather than
mean years of schooling.
The human development index was created by Mahbub ul Haq, and Amartya
Sen.
