Human Development Index (HDI) II What is HDI

 Human Development Index

The practice of measuring Quality of Life (QOL) with the basic needs oriented approach and physical quality of life indices were found to have some drawbacks. From the year 1990, UNDP (United Nations Development Program) started preparing and publishing the Human Development Report (HDR) annually with the Human Development Indices of many countries of the world. From that year, this new method has been brought into practice to measure QOL more suitably. HDI was first developed by late Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq for the annual report of UNDP. It has an index range between zero and one. Nowadays, it is found more appropriate to measure this abstract aspect of human life with Human Development Index. Human Development Report (HDR) includes the data related to human development issues corrosponding to the previous year. For example, HDR 2016 includes the HDI for the year 2015. 

Human development index (HDI) is  a tool to measure the quality of life in numeric figures that comprise of a country's average achievements in three basic aspects of human development: health, knowledge and income in a certain time period. 

UNDP has defined Human Development Index (HDI) as ' a composite index measuring average achievement in three dimensions of human development- a long and health life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. " 

Indicators of HDI/ The basics of HDI 

Calculation of HDI encompasses the analysis of data revealing three major aspects of human development. They are health, knowledge and income. They are measured mathematically with the help of certain major indicators as given below: 

1. Health (Measured by life expectancy at birth) 
2. Education (Measured by adult literacy and enrolment in the primary, secondary and tertiary level of education) 
3. Income Measured by GNI: Gross National Income per capita: adjusted purchasing power parity, PPP. 

Though the above indices are comprehensive measures of human development and quality of life, they do not include important indicators such, as gender or income inequality, respect for human rights and political freedoms. They cannot explain the quality determined by the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of human needs, which are very strong and important determinants of life's quality. What they do provide is the complex relationship between income and well-being. 

Nowadays, HDI is a widely accepted tool to analyze human development and quality of life. It adopts procedural uniformity in the evaluation of all countries on the same basis. 

UNDP used to categorize the countries under its study into three groups on the basis of HDI in the past. They were highly developed (with HDI of 0.800 and above), average (with HDI 0.500 to 0.799), poor (with HDI less than 0.500). From the year 2010, UNDP started making four categories. This categorization is not based on the index range. IT is based according to their placement on four statistical quartiles. They are: 

1. Very high HDI countries (Placed on the top quartile)
2. High HDI countries (Placed on the second quartile) 
3. Medium HDI countries (Placed on the third quartile) 
4. Low HDI countries (Placed on the lowest quartile) 

HDI status of Nepal 

Nepal was in average category of Human development according to the reports published by UNDP. In 2004, the HDI of Nepal was 0.504 and ranked 140th among all countries and in 2006 AD the index was 0.527 and ranked 138th in the world. Human development report 2015 shows the rank of Nepal in year 2014 as 145th with an index of 0.548. (Human Development Report, HDR analyzes the characteristics of human development for the previous year). As the index lies in the fourth quartile, Nepal belonged to the low HDI category. In 2015, Nepal stepped in Medium HDI quartile with 0.558 HDI and 144th rank. 

Importance of HDI/ Uses of HDI 

1. To identify whether the country is developing, underdeveloped and developed. 
2. To know the level and status of human development 
3. To identify the area (field) that requires more attention for human development 
4. To compare the performance of human development of a country with other countries 
5. To figure out the flaws in implementation of development projects in basic infrastructure. 
6. To devise better national policy and plan to achieve the goal of well-being of the people.