Human Development Index

What is HDI? Used by U.N. to rank countries 1-0 and usually implies if the country is MED, LED, or developing. The HDI measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development: A long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth. Knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weight) and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weight). A decent standard of living, as measured by Gross Domestic Product per capita (Purchasing Parity Power in $US).

What do the numbers mean? Any nation with HDI of below .5 (approx) is considered “low human development” The 2011 UNDP (U.N. Development Program) lists 45 nations as low human development Many low development nations are in Africa

Low Development Nations UNDP 142  Solomon Islands 0.510 143  Kenya 0.509 144  São Tomé and Príncipe 145  Pakistan 0.504 146  Bangladesh 0.500 147  Timor-Leste 0.495 148  Angola 0.486 149  Myanmar 0.483 150  Cameroon 0.482 151  Madagascar 0.480 152  Tanzania 0.466 153  Papua New Guinea 154  Yemen 0.462 155  Senegal 0.459 156  Nigeria 157  Nepal 0.458 158  Haiti 0.454 159  Mauritania 0.453 160  Lesotho 0.450 161  Uganda 0.446 162  Togo 0.435 163  Comoros 0.433 164  Zambia 0.430 165  Djibouti 166  Rwanda 0.429 167  Benin 0.427 168  Gambia 0.420 169  Sudan 0.408 170  Côte d'Ivoire 0.400 171  Malawi 172  Afghanistan 0.398 173  Zimbabwe 0.376 174  Ethiopia 0.363 175  Mali 0.359 176  Guinea-Bissau 0.353 177  Eritrea 0.349 178  Guinea 0.344 179  Central African Republic 0.343 180  Sierra Leone 0.336 181  Burkina Faso 0.331 182  Liberia 0.329 183  Chad 0.328 184  Mozambique 0.322 185  Burundi 0.316 186  Niger 0.295 187  Democratic Republic of Congo

The HDI for Sierra Leone is 0 The HDI for Sierra Leone is 0.329, which gives the country a rank of 179th out of 179 countries with data http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

Importance of trends in HDI Global Trends in HDI Office of Economic Co-operation and Dev. Commonwealth of Independent States- Former Soviet States-except Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Georgia w/d after becoming a member to pursue membership in the EU Importance of trends in HDI Since the mid-1970s almost all regions have been progressively increasing their HDI score East Asia and South Asia have accelerated progress since 1990. Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS, following a catastrophic decline in the first half of the 1990s, has also recovered to the level before the reversal. major exception is sub-Saharan Africa; since 1990 it has stagnated, partly because of economic reversal but principally because of the catastrophic effect of HIV/AIDS on life expectancy.

Australia HDI=.962; rank #3 Ranks 5th w/ life exp of 80.9 years Ranks 16th w/ GDP (PPP) of $31,794 Ranks 1st in enrollment w. 113% Calculation of gross enrollment: Locale A has 950,000 pupils enrolled in education in the academic year 2005/06. Locale A has 1,000,000 pupils of school age. GER = number of actual students enrolled / number of potential students enrolled = (950,000 / 1,000,000) = 0.95 .95 x 100%= 95% Australia must have pupils enrolled that are not considered “school age”

Is HDI a better way to determine “development” than GDP alone? Australia ranks 3rd in HDI, but 16th in GDP Luxembourg ranks 18th in HDI, but 1st in GDP The U.S. ranks 15th in HDI, but 8th in GDP Sierra Leone ranks 177th in HDI, but 169th in GDP *What does the disparity tend to indicate???

Australia

Sierra Leone HDI=.336; rank=177th Life exp. 41.8 Adult literacy 34.8% Education enrollment 44.6 GDP (PPP) $806

Does Sierra Leone’s location in Sub-Saharan Africa have an impact on its HDI?

Criticisms of HDI as a measure of development Lack of environmental measures Lack of sub-national measures (differences w/I countries) Inaccurate reporting of data; failure to update data Classifications of low, medium, high too arbitrary physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure time, and social belonging not measured

Happiness??? Can it be measured? Suicide rate Gender equality Human rights War Government instability Class warfare Infant mortality Class mobility