4.1.4

The Human Development Index

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The Human Development Index (HDI)

The HDI index is a social measure of development that tries to overcome some of the problems of economic measures of development.

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What is HDI?

  • HDI stands for the Human Development Index.
  • It is a composite measure of development because it takes into account data from more than one measure.
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Three parts of HDI

  • HDI is made up of the following three parts:
    • The life expectancy of a country.
    • The education level of people in that country.
    • The income of people.
  • The HDI combines all three of these measures to give one overview score.
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Life expectancy and income

  • The life expectancy of a country tells you about its development because if people are living longer, their quality of life is most likely higher.
  • For the same reasons as GDP, the income of people can tell you how developed a country is.
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Education

  • The education level of people in that country tells you about its development because if people have received a good education and have then got a good job, then their quality of life will be higher.
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Scores

  • A score of 0 is a very low HDI.
  • 1 is the highest possible score.
  • Currently, Switzerland has the highest HDI score, followed by Norway and Iceland.
  • The UK has the 14th highest HDI score.
  • Developing countries dominate the bottom of the HDI rankings with countries like Sierra Leone, Mozambique and South Sudan having a very low score.
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Evaluation

  • Overall, HDI is a better measure of development because it gives an indication of how the money is spent in a country.

Jump to other topics

1Geography Skills

2Geology of the UK

3Geography of the World

4Development

5Weather & Climate

6The World of Work

7Natural Resources

8Rivers

9Coasts

10Glaciers

11Tectonics

12Climate Change

13Global Population & Inequality

14Urbanisation

15Ecosystems

16Life in an Emerging Country

17Analysis of Africa

18Analysis of India

19Analysis of the Middle East

20Analysis of Bangladesh

21Analysis of Russia

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