Human Development Index

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index that is calculated and released every year by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  The Human Development Index (HDI) determines the average achievement of a country in key human development dimensions: a long and healthy life, decent standard of living, and mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling (education).

Key Points for UPSC Prelims

• It is a composite index consisting of life expectancy, education, and per capita income as parameters.
• When a country has a higher life span, good educational quality, and high levels of income, then its Human Development Index will rise.
• HDI was developed in the year 1990 by a Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and is used to measure a country’s development.
• In 2010, the UNDP introduced Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI). The IHDI measures a country’s average achievements in health, education, and income and how those achievements are distributed among the country’s population.

Human Development Index 2020

• The Human Development Index 2020 has been topped by Norway, followed by Ireland.
• India has been ranked 131^st on the index of 189 countries and has dropped by two places from the previous year rankings where it was ranked 129^th.
• However, India would move up eight places in the ranking if the Index was adjusted to assess the planetary pressures caused by each nation’s development.
• This year, UNDP has introduced a new metric to check the impact caused by each country’s per-capita carbon emissions and its material footprint.
• China has been ranked 85^th on the index while Pakistan is at rank 154.
• As per the index, the gross national income per capita of India decreased to $6,681 in the year 2019 from $6,829 in 2018 on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis.

The 2020 Human Development Index also marks the 30^th anniversary of the report.