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Indian Economy / Macro Social Aggregates

Human Development Index

The concept of Human development index was developed by Late Prof. Mahbub ul Haq from Pakistan and Prof. Amartya Sen from India. Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen gave social dimension to the growth of a country. It was adopted by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Human development is a process of enlarging people's choices.



Human Development Index before 2010

  • Human development was measured with Human Development Index (HDI) based on the following 3 parameters before 2010. After 2010, the parameter values were changed.

    • Life Expectancy Index (LEI) based on Life Expectancy at Birth (LEB). The Maximum value of LEB is 85 and the Minimum value is 25.

    • Education Index (EI) based on a combination of Adult Literacy Rate with 2/3rd weight and Gross Enrollment in the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary education (Intermediate and Above) with 1/3rd weight.

      The Maximum value of Adult Literacy is 100 and the Minimum value is 0. Similarly, the Maximum value of Gross Enrollment value is 100 and the Minimum value is 0.

    • Gross National Income (GNI) Index based on Per Capita Real GNI measured at PPP. The Maximum Per Capita is $40,000 and the Minimum is $100.

  • To have comparability across the countries, dimension indices were worked out for each parameter and it is defined as follows,

    Dimension Index = (The Actual Value - The Minimum Value) / (The Maximum Value - The Minimum Value)

    The Dimension Index for each parameter lies between 0 and 1. The simple average of the three dimensional indices gives the HDI.


Human Development Index



Human Development Index after 2010

  • From the year 2010 onwards, the formula has been changed

    • The LEB Minimum value is changed to 20.

    • The Education Index is simple average of Mean Years of Schooling Index (MYSI) and Expected Years of Schooling Index (EYSI), where MYSI is (Mean Years of Schooling / 15) and EYSI is (Expected Years of Schooling / 18).

    • The Maximum value of Per Capita is increased from $40,000 to $75,000.

    • The HDI will be the geometric mean of the above three indices instead of simple average.

  • Adopting the above concepts and methodology, UNDP has been working out the HDI for each of the member countries and releases the UNDP report on human development since 1990.

  • Countries having HDI of 0.800 or above are categorized as Very High Development Countries. Those having 0.700 to 0.799 are High Development Countries.

    Those having 0.550 to 0.699 are Medium Development Countries. Those having less than 0.550 are Low Development Countries.

  • For the year 2023, Human Development Index for India stood at 0.685 and ranked at 130 in the world. India is bracketed under Medium Development Countries (developing country). The first state to bring state level Human Development Report was Madhya Pradesh, in 1995.



Quiz

  1. Which one of the following indices is not included in the Human Development Index?

    1. Education Index

    2. Life Expectancy Index

    3. Inequality Index

    4. Gross National Income Index

    Answer

    Ans: C


  2. Which organisation publishes Human Development Report?

    1. United Nations Human Rights Council

    2. United Nations Development Programme

    3. Food and Agriculture Organization

    4. World Health Organization

    Answer

    Ans: B


  3. The first Indian state to release state level Human Development Report:

    1. Gujarat

    2. Andhra Pradesh

    3. Kerala

    4. Madhya Pradesh

    Answer

    Ans: D