1.5 HDI

Question 1

Human development

Answer 1

Creating an environment in which people can develop to their full potential and lead productive, creative lives according to their needs and interests. It is about expanding people’s choices and enhancing capabilities, having access to knowledge, health and a decent standard of living, participating in the life of their community and decisions affecting their lives.

Question 2

HD is about creating an environment in which people can:

Answer 2

• Lead long and healthy lives
• Lead productive and creative lives according to their needs and interests
• Have access to knowledge and expand their choices and capabilities
• Have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living (such as housing)
• Participate in the life of the community
• Participate in the decisions that affect their lives

Question 3

HDI

Answer 3

A tool developed by the United Nations to measure and rank counties’ levels of social and economic development. It provides a single statistic based on three dimensions – a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living – and four indications life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling and Gross National Income per capita

Question 4

HDI dimensions

Answer 4

a long and healthy life
knowledge
a decent standard of living

Question 5

HDI indicators

Answer 5

life expectancy at birth
mean years of schooling
expected years of schooling
Gross National income per capita

Question 6

Life expectancy at birth

Answer 6

an indication of how long a person can expect to live; it is the number of years of life remaining to a person at birth if death rates do not change

Question 7

Expected years of schooling

Answer 7

average number of years of education expected for a child of school entrance age

Question 8

Mean years of schooling

Answer 8

number of years of education achieved by those aged 25 years and older

Question 9

Gross National Income per capita

Answer 9

overall income of a country after expenses owing to other countries have been paid, divided by the population of the country

Question 10

Advantages

Answer 10

+ Takes more than just average incomes into account, so provides a more comprehensive representation of the level of HD experienced
+ HDI is effective for analysing progress that is made by countries over time, the four indicators may experience differing rates of progress, but monitoring the overall HDI is useful for analysing the overall progress achieved overtime

Question 11

Limitations

Answer 11

• HD is a complex concept and encompasses many aspects of human lives, HDI only reflects selected aspects and does not capture the richness and depth of HD (aspects such as gender equality are not measured)
• No survey data are collected in the HDI, so people’s feelings about their lives and issues facing communities are not reflecting, including social, emotional, mental and spiritual health and wellbeing