Question

What is meant by Human Development Index ?

Hint:

Remember the three pillars of HDI: Health (Life Expectancy), Education (Years of Schooling), and Standard of Living (GNI per capita). It's a measure of people's well-being, not just the country's wealth.

Answer 1

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistical tool used to measure a country's overall achievement in its social and economic dimensions. It provides a broader and more comprehensive measure of a country's development than just economic indicators like GDP. 
The HDI was created by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is published annually in the Human Development Report. 
It is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: 

\[\begin{array}{rl} 1. & \text{A long and healthy life: This is measured by life expectancy at birth.} \\ 2. & \text{Knowledge: This is measured by two indicators:} \\ \bullet & \text{Mean years of schooling (for adults aged 25 years and more).} \\ \bullet & \text{Expected years of schooling (for children of school entering age).} \\ 3. & \text{A decent standard of living: This is measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).} \\ \end{array}\]

The HDI ranks countries into four tiers of human development: very high, high, medium, and low. It emphasizes that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.