chap5 m1-hdr 20072008-tech_note_1

HUMAN DE VELOPMENT REPORT 2007/2008 355

Political participationand decision-making

Economic participationand decision-making

Gender empowerment measure (GEM)

Power overeconomic resources

Female and male sharesof parliamentary seats

EDEP forparliamentaryrepresentation

EDEP foreconomic participation

EDEP forincome

Female and male sharesof positions as legislators,

senior officials and managers

Female and male sharesof professional andtechnical positions

Female and maleestimated earned

income

DIMENSION

INDICATOR

EQUALLYDISTRIBUTEDEQUIVALENTPERCENTAGE(EDEP)

GEM

A long andhealthy life Knowledge

FemaleGER

MaleGER

Femaleadult literacy

rate

Maleeducation

index

Equally distributededucation index

Equally distributedlife expectancy

index

Gender-related development index (GDI)

Femaleeducation

index

Maleadult literacy

rate

A decent standardof living

Female lifeexpectancy

at birth

Male lifeexpectancy

at birth

Equally distributedincome index

Femaleestimated

earnedincome

Maleestimated

earnedincome

DIMENSION

INDICATOR

DIMENSIONINDEX

EQUALLYDISTRIBUTEDINDEX

Malelife expectancy

index

Femalelife expectancy

index

Maleincomeindex

Femaleincomeindex

GDI

Knowledge

Human poverty indexfor developing countries (HPI-1)

Deprivation in a decent standard of living

A decent standard of livingProbability at birth

of not surviving to age 40

Percentage of populationnot using an improved

water source

Percentage of childrenunder weight-for-age

DIMENSION

INDICATOR

HPI-1 A long and healthy life

Adult illiteracy rate

Knowledge

Human poverty indexfor selected OECD countries (HPI-2)


Socialexclusion

Probability at birthof not surviving

to age 60

Percentage of people living below the

poverty line

Long-termunemployment rate

DIMENSION

INDICATOR

A long andhealthy life

HPI-2

Percentage of adults lacking functional

literacy skills

Knowledge

Gross enrolment ratio(GER)

Adult literacy rate

GER indexAdult literacy index

Education indexLife expectancy index

Human development index (HDI)

Life expectancyat birth

GDP index

GDP per capita(PPP US$)

DIMENSION

INDICATOR

DIMENSIONINDEX

A long andhealthy life


HDI

TECHNICAL NOTE 1

Calculating the human development indices

Th e diagrams here summarize how the fi ve human development indices used in the Human Development Report are constructed,

highlighting both their similarities and their diff erences. Th e text on the following pages provides a detailed explanation.

356 HUMAN DE VELOPMENT REPORT 2007/2008

1.00

.900

.800

.700

.600

.500

.400

.300

.200

.100

0

IndicatorDimension

index

Goalpost formaximum

value

Goalpost forminimum

value

Indicatorvalue

Indexvalue

Goalposts for calculating the HDIMaximum Minimum

Indicator value value

Life expectancy at birth (years) 85 25

Adult literacy rate (%)* 100 0

Combined gross enrolment ratio (%) 100 0

GDP per capita (PPP US$) 40,000 100

1.00

.800

.600

.400

.200

0

Lifeexpectancy

(years)

Lifeexpectancy

index

Goalpost85 years

Goalpost25 years

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

71.40.773

1.00

.800

.600

.400

.200

0

Adultliteracy

rate(%)

Grossenrolment

ratio(%)

Educationindex

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

87.4 68.7 0.812

GDPper capita(PPP US$)Log scale

GoalpostUS$40,000

GoalpostUS$100

1.00

.800

.600

.400

.200

0

GDPindex

0.740

100,000

10,000

1,000

8,407

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

1.00

.800

.600

.400

.200

0

1.00

.800

.600

.400

.200

0Life

expectancy

0.773

0.8120.775

0.740

GDP

HDI

Education

Dimension indices

* The goalpost for calculating adult literacy implies themaximum literacy rate is 100%. In practice, the HDI iscalculated using an upper bound of 99%.


Calculating the GDI continues on next page


Calculating the GDI (continued)

Second, the female and male income indices are combined to create the equally distributed

income index :

FEMALE MALEPopulation share: 0.504 Population share: 0.496Income index: 0.681 Income index: 0.877

Equally distributed income index = {[0.504 (0.681–1)] + [0.496 (0.877–1)]}–1 = 0.766

4. Calculating the GDI

Calculating the GDI is straightforward. It is simply the unweighted average of the three

component indices—the 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


Selected readings

Anand, Sudhir, and Amartya Sen. 1994. “Human Development

Index: Methodology and Measurement”. Occasional Paper 12,

United Nations Development Programme, Human

Development Report Office, New York. (HDI)

——, 1995, “Gender Inequality in Human Development Theories

and Measurement.” Occasional Paper 19, United Nations

Development Programme, Human Development Report Office,

New York. (GDI, GEM)

——, 1997, “Concepts of Human Development and Poverty:

A Multi-dimensional Perspective.” In United Nations

Development Programme, Human Development Report

1997 Papers : Poverty and Human Development New York.

(HPI-1, HPI-2)

Bardhan, Kalpana, and Stephan Klasen, 1999. “UNDP’s

Gender-Related Indices. A Critical Review.” World

Development 27 (6): 985–1010 (GDI, GEM)

United Nations Development Programme, 1995. Human

Development Report 1995. New York: Oxford University Press,

Technical notes 1 and 2 and chapter 3. (GDI, GEM)

——, 1997, Human Development Report 1997. New York:

Oxford University Press. Technical note 1 and chapter 1.

(HPI-1, HPI-2)

——, 1999, Human Development Report 1999. New York:

Oxford University Press. Technical note (HDI, GDI)

Klasen, Stephan. 2006. "UNDP's Gender-related Measures:

Some Conceptual Problems and Possible Solutions." Journal

of Human Development Alternative Economics in Action, 7 (2):

243 - 274.

chap5 m1-hdr 20072008-tech_note_1

Economy & Finance