Human Development Index

Understanding the Human Development Index (HDI)

Growth vs. Development: The Basic Difference

Earlier, growth and development were used as if they meant the same thing. But gradually, scholars realized they are different:

• Growth: It is quantitative—meaning it talks about numbers (like GDP increasing or decreasing). It can be positive or negative. Example: If India’s GDP falls by 2%, that’s negative growth.
• Development: It is qualitative—it talks about improvement in the quality of life, and it is always positive. Example: Better education, healthcare, and dignity for people.

👉 Analogy: Think of growth as gaining more weight (which could be good or bad), but development is like becoming healthier and fitter (always a positive thing).

Before 1990: Economic Progress Meant Development?

• Earlier, a country’s development was judged only by its economic growth.
• But this was misleading. Even if GDP grew, common people might still be poor, sick, or uneducated.
• Real development should improve quality of life, opportunities, and freedom.

👉 Realization: Development isn’t just about richer governments—it’s about happier, healthier citizens.

1970s: The First Step Towards Broader Understanding – PQLI

• David Morris introduced PQLI (Physical Quality of Life Index) in the 1970s.
• It measured:
  • Health
  • Life Expectancy
  • Literacy Rate

👉 This was the first time social factors, not just economic ones, were used to measure development.

Late 1980s and 1990s: Human Development Concept Emerges

• Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq and Dr. Amartya Sen revolutionized thinking.
• Mahbub-ul-Haq (1990) created the Human Development Index (HDI).
• He said:
  • Development = Enlarging people’s choices for living long, healthy, meaningful lives with dignity.
  • A meaningful life = Health + Talent Development + Social Participation + Freedom.
• Amartya Sen added emphasis on freedom—freedom to make choices and shape one’s life.

👉 Analogy: Just earning money isn’t enough. True success is when you are healthy, educated, empowered, and free to live the way you want.

Key Aspects of Human Development

HDI focuses on:

• Health (Leading a long and healthy life): measured by life expectancy at birth (SDG-3)
• Education (Gaining knowledge and skills): assessed through mean years of schooling for adults (SDG-4.4) and expected years of schooling for children (SDG-4.3).
• Standard of living (Having resources and employment): evaluated using Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (SDG-8.5), adjusted for income distribution.

HDI categorizes countries into four development levels based on their HDI values:

• Low Human Development: HDI value below 0.550
• Medium Human Development: HDI value between 0.550 and 0.699
• High Human Development: HDI value between 0.700 and 0.799
• Very High Human Development: HDI value 0.800 and above

Different Faces of Development: Western vs. Post-Colonial View

• Western countries often define development as modernization, leisure, and comfort.
• Postcolonial countries like India have different challenges:
  • Colonization, social discrimination, regional disparities—these issues distort the development process.

In India, poverty is worsened by:

• Social Capability Loss: Displacement breaks social ties.
• Environmental Capability Loss: Pollution harms living conditions.
• Personal Capability Loss: Diseases and accidents increase vulnerability.

👉 Lesson: Development isn’t “one-size-fits-all.” Context matters.

Why Focus on Human Development?

According to Paul Streeten, Human Development is important because it:

• Improves human living conditions and enlarges choices.
• Boosts productivity.
• Helps reduce population growth.
• Protects the environment.
• Builds healthy civil society, strengthens democracy, and improves political stability.

👉 Analogy: Investing in people is like watering the roots of a tree—you get stronger fruits (economy, society) later.

Indicators of Human Development

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) created the HDI, measuring:

• Longevity (Life Expectancy)
• Knowledge (Education levels)
• Decent Standard of Living (Income)

In India, for Human Development Reports (HDRs), indicators are:

• Core Composite Indices (general human development)
• Gender Equality Index (how equally men and women develop)
• Human Poverty Index (measuring deprivation)

Other indicators:

• Health: Birth rate, death rate, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), nutrition.
• Education: Literacy rate (especially female literacy), enrollment, dropouts, pupil-teacher ratio.
• Economy: Wages, income, employment, per capita GDP, poverty rate.

Approaches to Human Development

1. Income Approach: Freedom increases with income.
2. Welfare Approach: Humans are beneficiaries of development projects.
3. Minimum Needs Approach: Focuses on basic services like health, education, housing.
4. Capabilities Approach (Amartya Sen’s idea): Building people’s capabilities is the real development.

👉 Simple way to understand: Instead of giving a fish (welfare), teach them how to fish (capability building).

Limitations of HDI

HDI is a big step forward but not perfect. Limitations include:

• Doesn’t differentiate much among developed countries: Once income and literacy are high, differences are tiny.
• Excludes political and civil freedom: HDI focuses mostly on socio-economic aspects.
• Ignores inequalities: Inside countries, between rich and poor, men and women.
• Data problems:
  • Developing countries often have incomplete or incorrect data (example: wrong GNP figures, estimated under-5 death rates).
  • Literacy definitions differ between countries; some countries haven’t updated data since 1970.
• Conceptual Weakness: HDI tries to capture very complex realities into simple numbers—leading to oversimplifications.

👉 Conclusion: HDI is good as a broad indicator but should not be used blindly for policy-making.

To address these gaps, UNDP provides additional indices, including:

• Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI)
• Gender Inequality Index (GII)
• Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)  

Final Thought

Human Development Index shifted the world’s focus from “how rich a country is” to “how well its people live.”
But, just like a student’s report card cannot fully capture his creativity, emotions, or social skills, HDI too cannot capture everything about human life.
It’s an important start, but not the final answer.