Quality-adjusted HDI changes perspective |
Human development index (HDI)—comprising income, health, and education elements—introduced by the United Nations Development Programme in 1990 has become a key indicator to gauge human development in a country. However, HDI does not tell a complete story about human development as it covers only quantitative elements like economic growth (for income), numbers of schooling years (education), and life expectancy at birth (health). For instance, despite a rise in enrolment rates in rural schools—from 96.7% in 2011 to 98.4% in 2022—less than half of Class 8 students could not perform basic division, a function expected of a Class 4 students. Likewise, per capita income of India grew 2.67 times between 2011-12 and 2022-23. But the top 1% of India’s population was earning Rs 53 lakh on an average in 2022-23, and the bottom 50% only Rs 71,000. These qualitative aspects remain invisible in traditional HDI.
To unravel a true picture of human development, our recently released study titled “India’s Human Development: How Do Quality-adjusted Elements Change the Picture?”........