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 The UN Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, childbirth, and other factors for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. The index was developed in 1990 by the Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq, and has been used since 1993 by the United Nations Development Programme in its annual report.
The HDI measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development:
- A long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth.
- Knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weight) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (with one-third weight).
- A decent standard of living, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) in USD.
Each year, UN member states are listed and ranked according to these measures. Those high on the list often advertise it, as a means of attracting talented immigrants (economically, individual capital) or discouraging emigration.
Method used to calculate the Human Development Index
The Human Development Index (HDI) represents the average of the following three indices:
- Life Expectancy Index = LE - 25/85-25
- Education Index = 2/3 x ALI + 1/3 x GEI
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- Adult Literacy Index (ALI) = ALR - 0/100 - 0
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- Gross Enrolment Index (GEI) = CGER - 0/100 - 0
- GDP Index = log(GDPpc) - log(100)/log(40000) - log(100)
The subtractions are necessary to subtract "minimum values" from each index. For instance, the minimum life expectancy a country can have is 25, so 25 is subtracted from both the LE index and the maximum LE of 85.
LE: Life expectancy
ALR: Adult literacy rate
CGER: Combined gross enrolment ratio
GDPpc: GDP per capita at PPP in USD
2005 report
The report for 2005 shows that, in general, the HDI for countries around the world is improving, with two major exceptions: Post-Soviet states, and Sub-Saharan Africa, both of which show steady decline. Worsening education, economies, and mortality rates caused declines in the HDIs amongst the first group while HIV/AIDS is the principal cause of decline in the second group.
Most of the data used for the 2005 report, indicating country HDIs for 2003, are derived largely from 2003 or earlier. Not all UN member states choose to or are able to provide the necessary statistics. Notable absences from the list (excluding micro-states) are Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia, North Korea, Serbia and Montenegro, and Somalia. While these countries are either unwilling or unable to provide data, they are generally considered countries of medium to low human development.
An HDI below 0.5 is considered to represent low development and 30 of the 32 countries in that category are located in Africa, with the exceptions of Haiti and Yemen. The bottom ten countries are all in Africa. The highest-scoring Sub-Saharan country, South Africa, is ranked 120th (with an HDI of 0.658), which is well above most other countries in the region.
An HDI 0.8 or more is considered to represent high development. This includes countries of northern Europe (e.g., Scandinavian countries), Australia, Canada, the United States, and Japan. Other countries that exhibit high human development amidst countries with lower HDIs include (with their position) South Korea (28th), Costa Rica (47th), Cuba (52nd), and Panama (56th).
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