The Human Development Index

The human development index (HDI) is a UN-sponsored indicator of the overall level of human development. It was first introduced by the UN Development Programme in 1990 to help governments track their progress against a set of human development goals. It measures health, education and wealth and is an important metric for measuring the progress of nations.

The HDI uses a combination of life expectancy, educational attainment and per capita income to measure human development. It ranks countries into four tiers of development: low, middle, high and very high.

While the HDI is not perfect, it is a valuable tool that provides a more holistic view of how people are faring. It can provide a deeper understanding of where aid should be focused and what countries are doing well and need more support in improving their human development.

Compared to the gross domestic product, it is more accurate in assessing the quality of life for individuals. It also gives a better picture of the progress of countries, and how they are faring in relation to their resources.

It is also a powerful predictor of infant and maternal mortality rates. It has been shown to account for 85% to 92% of the variation in infant and maternal mortality rates worldwide.

The HDI has a major drawback though: it ignores many of the factors that impact on a person’s quality of life. For example, poor water supply or environmental degradation can affect a person’s well-being and lead to a lower HDI score.

To overcome this issue, the World Bank developed a new method for calculating the HDI. It calculates the geometric mean values of each dimension indicator in each country and then aggregates them to produce the HDI. This method minimizes the possibility of interchangeability between the different dimensions and ensures that a 1% reduction in income, for example, has the same impact on the HDI as a 1% reduction in education or life expectancy.

This new method also enables researchers to examine the correlation between HDI and other economic indicators, such as average income. It is found that countries with higher levels of GDP per capita tend to be more successful in the health and education areas.

However, countries that have a high inequality level may be able to improve their HDI by increasing their wealth but may not necessarily improve the lives of the majority of their citizens. It is essential that governments take the human development index into account when evaluating and planning investments in their countries, so that they can maximize the benefits to the most people.

Despite its limitations, the HDI has been a successful tool to highlight and address the problems that plague the world’s poorest nations. It has helped governments organize specialized health and educational policies that are tailored to the needs of specific communities.

The Western Balkan countries have made some progress in human development, with the highest increase in HDI in the period 2012-2017 being recorded in Ireland (an increase for 13 positions), and Botswana, the Dominican Republic and Turkey (an increase for eight places). But the highest decrease was in Syria and Yemen where the war has ravaged their economies and destroyed infrastructure.