TECHNICAL NOTE 1
Calculating the human development indices
The diagrams here summarize how the five human development indices used in the Human Development Report are constructed,
highlighting both their similarities and their differences. The text on the following pages provides a detailed explanation.
HDI
DIMENSION
INDICATOR
A long and
healthy life
Gross enrolment ratio
(GER)
Adult literacy rate
Life expectancy
at birth
Adult literacy index
DIMENSION
INDEX
A decent standard
of living
Knowledge
Life expectancy index
GDP per capita
(PPP US$)
GER index
GDP index
Education index
Human development index (HDI)
HPI-1
DIMENSION
A long and
healthy life
INDICATOR
Probability at birth
of not surviving
to age 40
Knowledge
A decent standard of living
Adult illiteracy rate
Percentage of population
not using an improved
water source
Percentage of children
under weight-for-age
Deprivation in
a decent standard of living
Human poverty index
for developing countries (HPI-1)
HPI-2
DIMENSION
INDICATOR
A long and
healthy life
Knowledge
A decent standard
of living
Social
exclusion
Probability at birth
of not surviving
to age 60
Percentage of adults
lacking functional
literacy skills
Percentage of people
living below the
poverty line
Long-term
unemployment rate
Human poverty index
for selected OECD countries (HPI-2)
GDI
DIMENSION
INDICATOR
DIMENSION
INDEX
EQUALLY
DISTRIBUTED
INDEX
A long and
healthy life
Female
Male
adult literacy Female adult literacy
rate
GER
rate
Female life Male life
expectancy expectancy
at birth
at birth
Female
life expectancy
index
Male
life expectancy
index
Equally distributed
life expectancy
index
A decent standard
of living
Knowledge
Female
education
index
Male
GER
Male
education
index
Equally distributed
education index
Female
Male
estimated estimated
earned
earned
income
income
Female
income
index
Male
income
index
Equally distributed
income index
Gender-related development index (GDI)
GEM
DIMENSION
Political participation
and decision-making
Economic participation
and decision-making
Power over
economic resources
INDICATOR
Female and male shares
of parliamentary seats
Female and male shares Female and male shares
of positions as legislators,
of professional and
senior officials and managers technical positions
Female and male
estimated earned
income
EDEP for
parliamentary
representation
EDEP for
economic participation
EDEP for
income
EQUALLY
DISTRIBUTED
EQUIVALENT
PERCENTAGE
(EDEP)
Gender empowerment measure (GEM)
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Goalpost
85 years
90
1.00
80
71.4
.800
0.773
70
60
.600
50
.400
40
Goalpost
25 years
.200
30
0
20
Life
expectancy
Life
index
expectancy
(years)
1.00
100
87.4
90
0.812
68.7
80
.800
70
.600
60
50
.400
40
30
Goalpost for
maximum
value
10
.900
Index
value
.800
Indicator
value
.200
20
1.00
.700
Adult
literacy
rate
Gross
enrolment
ratio
.600
(%)
(%)
Education
index
.500
.400
.300
.200
100,000
.100
Goalpost for
minimum
value
Goalpost
US$40,000
Indicator
Dimension
index
1.00
.800
10,000
0.740
8,407
.600
.400
1,000
.200
Goalpost
US$100
GDP
per capita
GDP
index
(PPP US$)
Log scale
Goalposts for calculating the HDI
Indicator
Maximum Minimum
value
value
Life expectancy at birth (years)
85
Adult literacy rate (%)*
100
Combined gross enrolment ratio (%)
100
GDP per capita (PPP US$)
40,000
25
0
0
100
* The goalpost for calculating adult literacy implies the
maximum literacy rate is 100%. In practice, the HDI is
calculated using an upper bound of 99%.
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4. Calculating the HDI
Once the dimension indices have been calculated,
determining the HDI is straightforward. It is a
simple average of the three dimension indices.
HDI = 1/3 (life expectancy index) + 1/3 (education index)
+ 1/3 (GDP index)
= 1/3 (0.773) + 1/3 (0.812) + 1/3 (0.740) = 0.775
Dimension indices
HDI
1.00
1.00
0.812
.800
0.773
0.775
0.740
.800
.600
.600
.400
.400
.200
.200
Life
expectancy
Education
GDP
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Calculating the GDI continues on next page
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Calculating the GDI (continued)
Second, the female and male income indices are combined to create the equally distributed
income index :
FEMALE
Population share: 0.504
Income index: 0.681
MALE
Population share: 0.496
Income index: 0.877
Equally distributed income index = {[0.504 (0.6811)] + [0.496 (0.8771)]}1 = 0.766
4. Calculating the GDI
Calculating the GDI is straightforward. It is simply the unweighted average of the three
component indicesthe equally distributed life expectancy index, the equally distributed
education index and the equally distributed income index.
GDI = 1/3 (life expectancy index) + 1/3 (education index) + 1/3 (income index)
= 1/3 (0.380) + 1/3 (0.773) + 1/3 (0.766) = 0.639
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Bardhan, Kalpana, and Stephan Klasen, 1999. UNDPs
Selected readings
Gender-Related
Anand, Sudhir, and Amartya Sen. 1994. Human Development
Index: Methodology and Measurement. Occasional Paper 12,
United
Nations
Development
Programme,
Indices. A
Critical
Review.
World
Development 27 (6): 9851010 (GDI, GEM)
United Nations Development Programme, 1995. Human
Human
Development Report 1995. New York: Oxford University Press,
, 1995, Gender Inequality in Human Development Theories
, 1997, Human Development Report 1997. New York:
and Measurement. Occasional Paper 19, United Nations
Oxford University Press. Technical note 1 and chapter 1.
Development Report Office, New York. (HDI)
Development Programme, Human Development Report Office,
New York. (GDI, GEM)
, 1997, Concepts of Human Development and Poverty:
A
Technical notes 1 and 2 and chapter 3. (GDI, GEM)
(HPI-1, HPI-2)
, 1999, Human Development Report 1999. New York:
Oxford University Press. Technical note (HDI, GDI)
Multi-dimensional Perspective. In United Nations
Klasen, Stephan. 2006. "UNDP's Gender-related Measures:
Development Programme, Human Development Report
Some Conceptual Problems and Possible Solutions." Journal
1997 Papers : Poverty and Human Development New York.
of Human Development Alternative Economics in Action, 7 (2):
(HPI-1, HPI-2)
243 - 274.
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