Download The Human Development Index - Geog

The Human Development Index
(And More)
IB SL
Key Questions...
1. What is it and what does it do?
2. Is it more accurate than using GDP as an
indicator of development? How?
3. What does it show/not show and how useful
is it to show how developed countries are?
Human Development Index
Human Development Index (HDI)
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HDI – A socio-economic measure
Focus on three dimensions of human welfare:
Longevity – Life expectancy
Knowledge – Access to education, literacy rates
Standard of living – GDP per capita: Purchasing
Power Parity (PPP)
Human Development Index
• Used by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) to measure development.
• HDI is measured by combining the following
three indicators:
• Life expectancy.
• Education levels.
• Income per person.
Human Development Index (HDI)
Coloured world map indicating Human Development Index (as of 2003)
██ over 0.95
██ 0.90-0.949
██ 0.85-0.899 ██ 0.80-0.849
██ 0.75-0.799 ██ 0.700.749
██ 0.65-0.699 ██ 0.60-0.649
██ 0.55-0.599 ██ 0.50-0.549
██ 0.45-0.499 ██ 0.400.449
██ 0.35-0.399 ██ 0.30-0.349
██ under 0.30 ██ N/A
Other Indicators Of Development
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4.
5.
6.
GDP.
Infant Mortality.
Birth Rate.
Death Rate.
Literacy Rate.
Human Suffering
Index.
• How do each of these
indicators help to show
how developed
countries are?
• What are the
advantages and
disadvantages of using
each as an indicator of
development?
• What do they not tell us
about?
GDP
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Advantages
A useful figure for
comparing countries.
Often used to rank
countries to establish a fair
system of aid payments.
Is a good indicator of the
state of the economy and
provision of services.
Fairly easy to calculate from
official government figures.
Disadvantages
• Can hide inequalities as it
does not show the
distribution of wealth.
• Can be manipulated by
governments who want to
appear poor to collect more
aid.
• Does not take into account
subsistence or informal
economies which are very
important in less developed
countries.
Infant Mortality
Advantages
Disadvantages
• Indicates quality of health care,
water quality, food supply.
• Very easy indicator to
understand.
• Focuses on one of the most
significant aspects of
development.
• Hard to get an accurate figure as
many births in the less
developed countries would be
un-registered.
• Evidence from some countries
that the level of enfant
mortality is well above that
disclosed.
• High infant mortality could be a
result of social or political
factors. For example in China
the figure would be very high
because of the countries one
child policy.
Birth Rate
Advantages
• Clear indicator of a
countries level of
development.
• Can be used for predicting
the future situation and
planning accordingly.
Disadvantages
• Can be affected by
population policies such as
China's one child policy.
• Figures in less developed
countries not necessarily
accurate.
Death Rate
Advantages
• Indicates level of health
care provision, water
quality, sanitation, and
living conditions.
• An easy to use indicator.
Disadvantages
• Does not actually tell us
what is responsible for the
high death rate. For
example a high death rate
could be a result of a
natural disaster not poor
health care.
• Very difficult to get accurate
figure from the less
developed world.
Literacy Rate
Advantages
• Indicates the amount of
education on offer.
• Shows how many children
could/couldn't attend
school.
Disadvantages
• Takes no notice of other
skills the people may have
which are equally valuable for example a good
understanding of farming
techniques.
• When used on its own
doesn't tell us whether the
figure is a consequence of
too few schools or the fact
that children are having to
work.
Human Suffering Index
• A country is ranked from 0 to 10 for each of
the following indicators (0= V.good, 10=V. bad)
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Life expectancy.
Daily calorie supply.
Access to clean water.
Per capital income.
Civil rights.
Political freedom.
Inflation.
Communications.
Percentage in secondary school.
Immunisation of infants.