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
INDICATOR

A long and
healthy life

Gross enrolment ratio

(GER)

Adult literacy rate

Life expectancy
at birth

Adult literacy index

DIMENSION
INDEX

A decent standard
of living

Knowledge

Life expectancy index

GDP per capita

(PPP US$)

GER index
GDP index

Education index

Human development index (HDI)

HPI-1

DIMENSION

A long and
healthy life

INDICATOR

Probability at birth
of not surviving
to age 40

Knowledge

A decent standard of living

Adult illiteracy rate

Percentage of population
not using an improved
water source

Percentage of children
under weight-for-age

Deprivation in
a decent standard of living

Human poverty index

for developing countries (HPI-1)
HPI-2

DIMENSION
INDICATOR

A long and
healthy life

Knowledge

A decent standard
of living

Social
exclusion

Probability at birth
of not surviving
to age 60

Percentage of adults
lacking functional
literacy skills

Percentage of people
living below the
poverty line

Long-term
unemployment rate

Human poverty index

for selected OECD countries (HPI-2)
GDI

DIMENSION
INDICATOR

DIMENSION
INDEX

EQUALLY
DISTRIBUTED
INDEX

A long and
healthy life

Female
Male
adult literacy Female adult literacy
rate
GER
rate

Female life Male life

expectancy expectancy
at birth
at birth

Female
life expectancy
index

Male
life expectancy
index

Equally distributed
life expectancy
index

A decent standard
of living

Knowledge

Female
education
index

Male
GER

Male
education
index

Equally distributed
education index

Female
Male
estimated estimated
earned
earned
income
income
Female
income
index

Male
income
index

Equally distributed
income index

Gender-related development index (GDI)

GEM

DIMENSION

Political participation
and decision-making

Economic participation
and decision-making

Power over
economic resources

INDICATOR

Female and male shares

of parliamentary seats

Female and male shares Female and male shares

of positions as legislators,
of professional and
senior officials and managers technical positions

Female and male

estimated earned
income

EDEP for
parliamentary
representation

EDEP for
economic participation

EDEP for
income

EQUALLY
DISTRIBUTED
EQUIVALENT
PERCENTAGE
(EDEP)

Gender empowerment measure (GEM)

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Goalpost
85 years

90
1.00
80

71.4

.800

0.773

70
60

.600

50

.400

40

Goalpost
25 years

.200

30
0
20

Life
expectancy
Life
index
expectancy
(years)

1.00

100

87.4

90

0.812

68.7

80

.800

70
.600

60
50

.400

40
30

Goalpost for
maximum
value

10

.900

Index
value

.800

Indicator
value

.200

20

1.00

.700

Adult
literacy
rate

Gross
enrolment
ratio

.600

(%)

(%)

Education
index

.500
.400
.300
.200

100,000

.100

Goalpost for
minimum
value

Goalpost
US$40,000

Indicator

Dimension
index

1.00
.800

10,000

0.740

8,407

.600
.400

1,000

.200

Goalpost
US$100

GDP
per capita

GDP
index

(PPP US$)
Log scale

Goalposts for calculating the HDI

Indicator

Maximum Minimum
value
value

Life expectancy at birth (years)

85
Adult literacy rate (%)*
100
Combined gross enrolment ratio (%)
100
GDP per capita (PPP US$)
40,000

25
0
0
100

* The goalpost for calculating adult literacy implies the

maximum literacy rate is 100%. In practice, the HDI is
calculated using an upper bound of 99%.

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4. Calculating the HDI

Once the dimension indices have been calculated,
determining the HDI is straightforward. It is a
simple average of the three dimension indices.
HDI = 1/3 (life expectancy index) + 1/3 (education index)
+ 1/3 (GDP index)
= 1/3 (0.773) + 1/3 (0.812) + 1/3 (0.740) = 0.775

Dimension indices

HDI

1.00

1.00

0.812
.800

0.773

0.775

0.740

.800

.600

.600

.400

.400

.200

.200

Life
expectancy

Education

GDP

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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
Population share: 0.504
Income index: 0.681

MALE
Population share: 0.496
Income index: 0.877

Equally distributed income index = {[0.504 (0.6811)] + [0.496 (0.8771)]}1 = 0.766

4. Calculating the GDI

Calculating the GDI is straightforward. It is simply the unweighted average of the three
component indicesthe 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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Bardhan, Kalpana, and Stephan Klasen, 1999. UNDPs

Selected readings

Gender-Related
Anand, Sudhir, and Amartya Sen. 1994. Human Development
Index: Methodology and Measurement. Occasional Paper 12,
United

Nations

Development

Programme,

Indices. A

Critical

Review.

World

Development 27 (6): 9851010 (GDI, GEM)

United Nations Development Programme, 1995. Human

Human

Development Report 1995. New York: Oxford University Press,

, 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 Report Office, New York. (HDI)

Development Programme, Human Development Report Office,

New York. (GDI, GEM)
, 1997, Concepts of Human Development and Poverty:
A

Technical notes 1 and 2 and chapter 3. (GDI, GEM)

(HPI-1, HPI-2)
, 1999, Human Development Report 1999. New York:
Oxford University Press. Technical note (HDI, GDI)

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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