The ‘United Nations Development Program’ (UNDP) published its first human development report in 1990.
“Human development was defined as long as healthy life, proper education, standerd of living, political freedom, guranted human rights and are the additional choises.”
“Human development is a process of widening peoples choices as well as raising the level of well being.”

Human development is necessary due to: (by Paul Streeten)
- To improve human conditions and enlarge people’s choices.
- It is a major tool for achieving a higher level of productivity.
- It helps reduce the growth of the population.
- Ti is friendly with the physical environment.
- Improve living conditions and reduce poverty.
- It helps in reducing civil disturbance in society and increasing political stability.
Indicators of Human Development
1. Health Indicators
- To longevity of birth rate.
- Death rate with special reference to infant mortality.
- Nutrition
- The life expectancy of birth.
2. Social indicators
- Include literacy, particularly female literacy.
- Enforcement of school-going children.
- Drop out ratio.
- Fulfill teacher ratio.
3. economic indicators
- Related to wedges.
- The income per capita.
- Employment opportunity.
- Poverty etc.
Computing the HDI
- Life expectancy at birth: 25 years and 89 years
- General literacy rate: 0% and 100%
- Real GDP per capita: PPP $ 100 and PPP $ 40,000
– HDI is a simple average of these three indices, its value ranges from 0 to 1.
HDI of India
Global positions of India with respect to H.D.
Country | Human Development Index (HDI) Rank | HDI | Life Expectancy (Years) |
Norway | 1 | 0.95 | 79.4 |
Iceland | 2 | 0.84 | 80.7 |
Australia | 3 | 0.74 | 80.3 |
Sri Lanka | 97 | 0.74 | 74.0 |
India | 127 | 0.59 | 63.3 |
Pakistan | 135 | 0.49 | 63.0 |
Nepal | 136 | 0.50 | 61.6 |
Bangladesh | 139 | 0.50 | 62.8 |
Sierra Leone | 176 | 0.34 | 40.8 |
niger | 177 | 0.29 | 44.4 |
- India ranked 127 out of the 177 countries.
- In South Asian countries, India ranks 3rd after Maldives (84), Sri Lanka (93), Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh worse than India.
- Norway, Iceland, and Australia to three performances.
- Burkina Faso, sierra leone, and Niger have the worst human development.
A. Health indicators
- Crude birth rate – 25.0 (2002)
- Crude death rate – 8.1
- Life expectancy – 63.3
b. Literacy indication
- Total literacy – 64.8% (2001)
- Male literacy – 75.30%
- Female literacy – 53.70%
- Elementary education – Boys: 85.4%, Girls: 79.3%, Total: 82.5%
- Adult education – 15 years & above (Adult): 61.3%, 25 years (Youth): 73.3%
c. economic indicators
- Poverty Ratio – 19.3%
- Rural – 21.1%
- Urban – 15.1%
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