Indicators of Human Development

 

Indicators of Human Development. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical measure (composite index) developed by the United Nations to assess the social and economic development of countries around the world. The HDI considers three indicators of human development, namely, life expectancy, education, and per capita income. Indicators of Human Development.

Indicators of Human Development. In addition to the standard HDI, there is also the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index. The Inequality-adjusted HDI assesses the levels of human development with consideration of economic inequality. It is thought that the Inequality-adjusted HDI reveals the actual levels of human development in a country, while the HDI shows the theoretical levels of development if there were no inequality in a country. Indicators of Human Development. 

Dimensions of the Human Development Index

Indicators of Human Development. The Human Development Index considers three main dimensions to evaluate the development of a country: Indicators of Human Development.

1. Long and healthy life

The long and healthy life dimension is measured by life expectancy at birth. The life expectancy at birth is a statistical measure that an average individual is expected to live based on certain demographic factors such as the year of birth and current age.

2. Education

Education is the second dimension in the HDI. The indicators of education are the expected years of schooling and the mean years of schooling. According to the UN, the average maximum years of schooling is 18 years, while the mean maximum years of schooling is 15 years.

3. Standard of living

The standard of living is usually measured by the gross national income (GNI) per capita. The GNI indicates the total domestic and foreign output created by the residents of a certain country.

 

Limitations of the Human Development Index

Despite the revolutionary idea behind the concept of the Human Development Index, the statistical measure is greatly simplified. The current version of the HDI calculations considers only a few factors that affect a country’s development. Indicators of Human Development.

Indicators of Human Development. However, other factors such as employment opportunities, empowerment movements, and feeling of security can be added to the index calculation to come up with a more accurate analysis. Indicators of Human Development.

There are many different measures used to assess the development gap, each one offering an alternate way of dividing up the world with regards to how developed it is. Here, we shall look at some of the most common indicators of development used in geography.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a single index measure that aims to record the three key dimensions of human development: access to knowledge, a decent standard of living, and long and healthy life. In other words, the Human Development Index is practiced to measure how development has improved human life.

Indicators of Human Development

1. Human development index rank

·        India has been on 130th rank in Human Development Index. 

2. Life expectancy

·        It is the age by which a particular person belonging to a particular age is expected to live.

·        Life expectancy at birth in India: Males: 67.34 years , Females: 69.64 years

3. Infant mortality rate

·        It is the total number of infants dying below the age of 1 year out of 1000 babies.

·        Infant mortality rate in India is 40.5 infants.

4. Maternal mortality rate

·        It is the total number of dying mothers out of 1000 mothers while giving birth to babies.

·        According to the 2011–13 census, maternal mortality rate in India is 167 deaths.

5. Adult literacy ratio

·        It refers to the number of people of both the sexes, i.e., male and female aging more than 15 years having the ability to read and write.

·        Percentage of the population below poverty line

Indicators of Human Development


People below the poverty line are categorised according to calories consumed by each person per day, which is 2400 in rural areas and 2100 in urban areas.

Indicators of Human Development. Any person consuming calories less than the minimum limit mentioned above is said to be below the poverty line.

Indicators of Human Development. It is easier to measure national incomes than human development. And many economists would argue that national income is a good indicator of human well-being. 

Indicators of Human Development. While there is evidently a strong relationship, since economic growth is an important means to human development, human outcomes do not depend on economic growth and levels of national income alone. They also depend on how these resources are used—whether for developing weapons or producing food, building palaces or providing clean water.

And human outcomes such as democratic participation in decision-making or equal rights for men and women do not depend on incomes. For these reasons the Report presents an extensive set of indicators (33 tables and almost 200 indicators) on important human outcomes achieved in countries around the world, such as life expectancy at birth or under-five mortality rates, which reflect the capability to survive, or literacy rates, which reflect the capability to learn.

They also include indicators on important means for achieving these capabilities, such as access to clean water, and on equity in achievement, such as the gaps between men and women in schooling or political participation.

While this rich array of indicators provides measures for evaluating progress in human development in its many dimensions, policymakers also need a summary measure to evaluate progress, particularly one that focuses more sharply on human well-being than on income. Indicators of Human Development. 

Indicators of Human Development. For this purpose Human Development Reports have since their inception published the human development index, later complemented by indices looking specifically at gender (gender-related development index and gender empowerment measure) and poverty. These indices give an overview of some basic dimensions of human development, but they must be complemented by looking at their underlying data and other indicators. Indicators of Human Development. 

Progress in human development during the 20th century was dramatic and unprecedented. Between 1960 and 2000 life expectancy in developing countries increased from 46 to 63 years.1 Mortality rates for children under five were more than halved. Indicators of Human Development. 2 Between 1975, when one of every two adults could not read, and 2000 the share of illiterate people was almost halved.  3 Real per capita incomes more than doubled, from $2,000 to $4,200. Indicators of Human Development. 4 But despite this impressive progress, massive human deprivation remains. Indicators of Human Development. 

More than 800 million people suffer from undernourishment (table 2). Some 100 million children who should be in school are not, 60 million of them girls. More than a billion people survive on less than $1 a day. Some 1.8 billion people live in countries where political regimes do not fully accommodate democratic, political and civil freedoms.5 And about 900 million people belong to ethnic, religious, racial or linguistic groups that face discrimination. Indicators of Human Development. 


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