Human Development Index

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This article is about the Human Development Index (HDI). For other uses of HDI, see HDI.

Image:UN Human Development Report 2007 (2).svg

World map indicating Human Development Index (2007)

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(Colour-blind compliant map) For red-green color vision problems.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is the measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used to determine and indicate whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country and also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life.^[1]

The index was developed in 1990 by Indian Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen, Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq, with help from Gustav Ranis of Yale University and Lord Meghnad Desai of the London School of Economics and has been used since then by the United Nations Development Programme in its annual Human Development Report. Described by Sen as a "vulgar measure", because of its limitations, it nonetheless focuses attention on wider aspects of development than the per capita income measure it supplanted, and is a pathway for researchers into the wide variety of more detailed measures contained in the Human Development Reports.

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 and education, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weighting).
A decent standard of living, as measured by the log of 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,^[2] as a means of attracting talented immigrants (economically, individual capital) or discouraging emigration.

An alternative measure, focusing on the amount of poverty in a country, is the Human Poverty Index.

1 Methodology
- 1.1 Examples
2 2007 report
- 2.1 Top fifty countries (HDI range from 0.968 down to 0.843)
- 2.2 Countries not included
3 Past top countries
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Methodology

Image:Evolució de l'IDH.png

HDI trends between 1975 and 2004

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In general to transform a raw variable, say <math>x</math>, into a unit-free index between 0 and 1 (which allows different indices to be added together), the following formula is used:

<math>x</math>-index = <math>\frac{x - \min\left(x\right)} {\max\left(x\right)-\min\left(x\right)}</math>

where <math>\min\left(x\right)</math> and <math>\max\left(x\right)</math> are the lowest and highest values the variable <math>x</math> can attain, respectively.

The Human Development Index (HDI) then represents the average of the following three general indices:

Life Expectancy Index = <math>\frac{LE - 25} {85-25}</math>
Education Index = <math>\frac{2} {3} \times ALI + \frac{1} {3} \times GEI</math>
- Adult Literacy Index (ALI) = <math>\frac{ALR - 0} {100 - 0}</math>
- Gross Enrolment Index (GEI) = <math>\frac{CGER - 0} {100 - 0}</math>
GDP Index = <math>\frac{\log\left(GDPpc\right) - \log\left(100\right)} {\log\left(40000\right) - \log\left(100\right)}</math>

LE: Life expectancy at birth
ALR: Adult literacy rate (ages 15 and older)
CGER: Combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools
GDPpc: GDP per capita at PPP in USD

UNDP has created a technical note on the definition of the HDI (see links below).

[edit] Examples

**Calculation examples of the indices.**
Index	Measure	Minimum value	Maximum value	Formula
Longevity	Life expectancy at birth (LE)	25 yrs	85 yrs	<math>L = \frac{\mathrm{LE}-25}{60}</math>
Education	Literacy rate (LR)	0%	100%	<math>E = \frac{2\mathrm{LR} + \mathrm{CGER}}{3}</math>
Education	Combined gross enrolment ratio (CGER)	0%	100%	<math>E = \frac{2\mathrm{LR} + \mathrm{CGER}}{3}</math>
GDP	GDP per capita (PPP)	100 USD	40,000 USD	<math>G = \frac{\log_{10}\mathrm{GDPpc}-2}{2\mathrm{.}60206}</math>

[edit] 2007 report

Main article: List of countries by Human Development Index

The report for 2007 was launched in Brasilia, Brazil, on November 27, 2007. Its focus was on "Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world." [1] Most of the data used for the report are derived largely from 2005 or earlier, thus indicating an HDI for 2005. Not all UN member states choose to or are able to provide the necessary statistics.

The report showed a small increase in world HDI in comparison with last year's report. This rise was fueled by a general improvement in the developing world, specially of the least developed countries group. This marked improvement at the bottom was offset with a decrease in HDI of high income countries.

A HDI below 0.5 is considered to represent "low development". All 22 countries in that category are located in Africa. The highest-scoring Sub-Saharan countries, Gabon and South Africa, are ranked 119th and 121st, respectively. Nine countries departed from this category this year and joined the "medium development" group.

A HDI of 0.8 or more is considered to represent "high development". This includes all developed countries, such as those in North America, Western Europe, Oceania, and Eastern Asia, as well as some developing countries in Eastern Europe, Central and South America, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and the oil-rich Arabian Peninsula. Seven countries were promoted to this category this year, leaving the "medium development" group: Albania, Belarus, Brazil, Libya, Macedonia, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

On the following table, green arrows (Template:Increase) represent an increase in ranking over the previous study, while red arrows (Template:Decrease) represent a decrease in ranking. They are followed by the number of spaces they moved. Blue dashes (Template:Steady) represent a nation that did not move in the rankings since the previous study.

[edit] Top fifty countries (HDI range from 0.968 down to 0.843)

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^{This short section requires expansion.}

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Template:Country data Iceland 0.968 (Template:Increase 1)
Template:Country data Norway 0.968 (Template:Decrease 1)
Image:Flag of Australia.svg Australia 0.962 (Template:Steady)
Image:Flag of Canada.svg Canada 0.961 (Template:Increase 2)
Template:Country data Republic of Ireland 0.959 (Template:Decrease 1)
Image:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 0.956 (Template:Decrease 1)
Template:Country data Switzerland 0.955 (Template:Increase 2)
Template:Country data Japan 0.953 (Template:Decrease 1)
Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands 0.953 (Template:Increase 1)
Template:Country data France 0.952 (Template:Increase 6)
Image:Flag of Finland.svg Finland 0.952 (Template:Steady)
Template:Country data United States 0.951 (Template:Decrease 4)
Image:Flag of Spain.svg Spain 0.949 (Template:Increase 6)
Image:Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark 0.949 (Template:Increase 1)
Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria 0.948 (Template:Decrease 1)
Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 0.946 (Template:Increase 2)
Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium 0.946 (Template:Decrease 4)

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Image:Flag of Luxembourg.svg Luxembourg 0.944 (Template:Decrease 6)
Template:Country data New Zealand 0.943 (Template:Increase 1)
Image:Flag of Italy.svg Italy 0.941 (Template:Decrease 3)
Template:Country data Hong Kong 0.937 (Template:Increase 1)
Template:GER 0.935 (Template:Decrease 1)
Template:Country data Israel 0.932 (Template:Steady)
Image:Flag of Greece.svg Greece 0.926 (Template:Steady)
Template:Country data Singapore 0.922 (Template:Steady)
Template:Country data South Korea 0.921 (Template:Steady)
Image:Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia 0.917 (Template:Steady)
Image:Flag of Cyprus.svg Cyprus 0.903 (Template:Increase 1)
Image:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal 0.897 (Template:Decrease 1)
Image:Flag of Brunei.svg Brunei 0.894 (Template:Increase 4)
Image:Flag of Barbados.svg Barbados 0.892 (Template:Steady)
Image:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czech Republic 0.891 (Template:Decrease 2)
Image:Flag of Kuwait.svg Kuwait 0.891 (Template:Steady)
Image:Flag of Malta.svg Malta 0.878 (Template:Decrease 2)

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Image:Flag of Qatar.svg Qatar 0.875 (Template:Increase 11)
Image:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary 0.874 (Template:Decrease 1)
Image:Flag of Poland.svg Poland 0.870 (Template:Steady)
Image:Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina 0.869 (Template:Decrease 2)
Image:Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg United Arab Emirates 0.868 (Template:Increase 10)
Image:Flag of Chile.svg Chile 0.867 (Template:Decrease 2)
Image:Flag of Bahrain.svg Bahrain 0.866 (Template:Decrease 2)
Image:Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia 0.863 (Template:Steady)
Image:Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania 0.862 (Template:Decrease 2)
Image:Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia 0.860 (Template:Decrease 4)
Image:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia 0.855 (Template:Steady)
Image:Flag of Uruguay.svg Uruguay 0.852 (Template:Decrease 3)
Image:Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia 0.850 (Template:Decrease 3)
Image:Flag of Costa Rica.svg Costa Rica 0.846 (Template:Steady)
Image:Flag of the Bahamas.svg The Bahamas 0.845 (Template:Increase 3)
Image:Flag of the Seychelles.svg Seychelles 0.843 (Template:Decrease 3)

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[edit] Countries not included

The following United Nations member states are not ranked in the 2007 Human Development Index, for being unable or unwilling to provide the necessary data at the time of publication. Template:Col-begin

| width="" align="left" valign="top" | Africa

| width="" align="left" valign="top" | Asia

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Europe

| width="" align="left" valign="top" | Oceania

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[edit] Past top countries

The number one ranked country in each year of the index. Canada has been the highest ranked country ten times, followed by Norway, which stayed at the top six times. Japan has been ranked highest twice and Switzerland and Iceland once.

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