Human_Development_Index.doc

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is an index combining normalized measures of  HYPERLINK /wiki/Life_expectancy \o Life expectancy life expectancy,  HYPERLINK /wiki/Literacy \o Literacy literacy,  HYPERLINK /wiki/Educational_attainment \o Educational attainment educational attainment, and  HYPERLINK /wiki/GDP_per_capita \o GDP per capita GDP per capita for countries worldwide. It is claimed as a standard means of measuring  HYPERLINK /wiki/Human_development_(humanity) \o Human development (humanity) human development — a concept that, according to the  HYPERLINK /wiki/United_Nations_Development_Program \o United Nations Development Program United Nations Development Program (UNDP), refers to the process of widening the options of persons, giving them greater opportunities for education, health care, income, employment, etc. The basic use of HDI is to rank countries by level of human development, which usually also implies to determine whether a country is a  HYPERLINK /wiki/Developed_country \o Developed country developed,  HYPERLINK /wiki/Developing_country \o Developing country developing, or underdeveloped country. The index was developed in 1980 by  HYPERLINK /wiki/Pakistan \o Pakistan Pakistani economist  HYPERLINK /wiki/Mahbub_ul_Haq \o Mahbub ul Haq Mahbub ul Haq and Sir Richard Jolly, with help from Gustav Ranis of  HYPERLINK /wiki/Yale_University \o Yale University Yale University and Lord  HYPERLINK /wiki/Meghnad_Desai \o Meghnad Desai Meghnad Desai of the  HYPERLINK /wiki/London_School_of_Economics \o London School of Economics London School of Economics. It has been used since then by UNDP in its annual  HYPERLINK /wiki/Human_Development_Report \o Human Development Report Human Development Report. It is claimed that ideas of  HYPERLINK /wiki/India \o India Indian Nobel prize winner  HYPERLINK /wiki/Amartya_Sen \o Amartya Sen Amartya Sen were influential in the development of the HDI.