HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & ITS MEASUREMENT
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & ITS MEASUREMENT
INTRODUCTION
- GNP per capita is one of the basic ways in which we measure the level of economic development a country has obtained. However, excessive reliance on it as a reliable indicator of overall economic development might be dangerous.
- A better indicator of development should focus not only on the average income of population but also on whether such income is being manifested for the development of the population also.
- This motivates us to look for some commonsense indicators of development, such as literacy, life expectancy, access to drinking water, low infant mortality rate and so on.
- We must also focus on whether such indicators of human development are accessible to different categories of population in an equitable manner.
- For instance, despite significant level of human development, there might be difference in their accessibility on the basis of gender and castes. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & ITS MEASUREMENT
Measurement of Human Development
- Different parameters of human development like those related to education and health, are generally measured in different units. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & ITS MEASUREMENT
- When we want to compare the level of human development across different nations, we can compare a particular parameter (e.g. literacy rate or life expectancy) separately across nations.
- However, it is desirable to have a comprehensive index that can incorporate different aspects of human development together so that an overall comparison of human development becomes easier.
- Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) was one of the pioneering indices in this field. PQLI was developed by Morris D. Morris in 1979 for 23 developing countries. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & ITS MEASUREMENT
The three components of human development incorporated in PQLI were:
- Infant Mortality
- Life Expectancy at Age 1
- Basic Literacy at Age 15
- A more formal approach towards developing such indices was made by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
- It’s Headquarter is in New York and Helen Clark is the Chief. UNDP has been publishing Human Development Report (HDR) every year since 1990 which provides a summary status of different parameters of human development across the world along with the calculation of some important indices.
- HDR was originated by Mahbub UI Haq, a Pakistani economist. Amartya Sen has also played important role in the formulation of different indices later. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & ITS MEASUREMENT
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