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 A long and A decent standard

healthy life Knowledge of living
INDICATOR Life expectancy Adult literacy rate Gross enrolment ratio GDP per capita
at birth (GER) (PPP US$)
Adult literacy index GER index

DIMENSION Life expectancy index Education index GDP index

INDEX

Human development index (HDI)

HPI-1 DIMENSION A long and

healthy life Knowledge A decent standard of living
INDICATOR Probability at birth Adult illiteracy rate Percentage of population Percentage of children
of not surviving not using an improved under weight-for-age
to age 40 water source

Deprivation in
a decent standard of living

Human poverty index

for developing countries (HPI-1)

HPI-2 DIMENSION A long and A decent standard Social

healthy life Knowledge of living exclusion
INDICATOR Probability at birth Percentage of adults Percentage of people Long-term
of not surviving lacking functional living below the unemployment rate
to age 60 literacy skills poverty line

Human poverty index

for selected OECD countries (HPI-2)

GDI DIMENSION A long and A decent standard

healthy life Knowledge of living
INDICATOR Female life Male life Female Male Female Male
expectancy expectancy adult literacy Female adult literacy Male estimated estimated
at birth at birth rate GER rate GER earned earned
income income

DIMENSION Female Male Female Male Female Male

INDEX life expectancy life expectancy education education income income
index index index index index index

EQUALLY Equally distributed Equally distributed Equally distributed

DISTRIBUTED life expectancy education index income index
INDEX index

Gender-related development index (GDI)

GEM DIMENSION Political participation Economic participation Power over

and decision-making and decision-making economic resources
INDICATOR Female and male shares Female and male shares Female and male shares Female and male
of parliamentary seats of positions as legislators, of professional and estimated earned
senior officials and managers technical positions income

EQUALLY EDEP for EDEP for EDEP for

DISTRIBUTED parliamentary economic participation income
EQUIVALENT representation
PERCENTAGE
(EDEP)
Gender empowerment measure (GEM)

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 90
Goalpost
85 years 1.00
80
71.4 .800
70 0.773

60 .600

50 .400

40
.200
30
Goalpost
25 years 0
20 Life
Life expectancy
expectancy index
(years)

100 1.00
90
87.4 68.7 0.812
80 .800
70
60 .600
50
40 .400
30
Goalpost for
20 .200
maximum 1.00
value 10
.900
0 0
.800 Adult Gross
Index .700 literacy enrolment Education
value rate ratio index
Indicator .600 (%) (%)
value
.500
.400
.300
.200
100,000
.100
Goalpost for Goalpost
US$40,000 1.00
minimum 0
value Dimension
Indicator index 10,000
.800
8,407 0.740
.600

1,000 .400

.200

Goalpost
US$100 0
GDP GDP
per capita index
(PPP US$)
Log scale

4. Calculating the HDI Dimension indices

HDI
Once the dimension indices have been calculated, 1.00 1.00
Goalposts for calculating the HDI determining the HDI is straightforward. It is a 0.812
Maximum Minimum simple average of the three dimension indices. .800 0.775 .800
Indicator value value 0.773 0.740
.600 .600
Life expectancy at birth (years) 85 25
HDI = 1/3 (life expectancy index) + 1/3 (education index)
Adult literacy rate (%)* 100 0
+ 1/3 (GDP index) .400 .400
Combined gross enrolment ratio (%) 100 0
= 1/3 (0.773) + 1/3 (0.812) + 1/3 (0.740) = 0.775
GDP per capita (PPP US$) 40,000 100 .200 .200

* The goalpost for calculating adult literacy implies the

0 0
maximum literacy rate is 100%. In practice, the HDI is Life Education GDP
calculated using an upper bound of 99%. expectancy

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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 MALE
Population share: 0.504 Population share: 0.496
Income 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

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Selected readings Bardhan, Kalpana, and Stephan Klasen, 1999. “UNDP’s
Gender-Related Indices. A Critical Review.” World
Anand, Sudhir, and Amartya Sen. 1994. “Human Development Development 27 (6): 985–1010 (GDI, GEM)
Index: Methodology and Measurement”. Occasional Paper 12, United Nations Development Programme, 1995. Human
United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 1995. New York: Oxford University Press,
Development Report Office, New York. (HDI) Technical notes 1 and 2 and chapter 3. (GDI, GEM)
——, 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 Programme, Human Development Report Office, (HPI-1, HPI-2)
New York. (GDI, GEM) ——, 1999, Human Development Report 1999. New York:
——, 1997, “Concepts of Human Development and Poverty: Oxford University Press. Technical note (HDI, GDI)
A 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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