O Human Development Index (HDI) it is a unit of measurement used to assess the degree of development of a given society in terms of education, health and income. The use of an indicator that involved variables other than the economic issue was first introduced in 1990 by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). This indicator was created by Pakistani Mahbub Ul Haq and Indian Amartya Sem.
The use of the education, health and income variables allows a comparison with practically all countries of the globe and serves as a reference to measure the response of a given country to these important demands.
The HDI is a numerical reference that varies between 0 and 1. The closer to zero, the lower the indicator for health, education and income. The closer to 1, the better the conditions for these items. In the world, no country has a zero or one HDI.
You countries with the highest HDI in the year 2018 were:
- Norway (0.954)
- Switzerland (0.946)
- Ireland (0.942)
- Germany and Hong Kong (0.939).
Between the lowest HDIs, they are:
- Niger (0.377)
- Central African Republic (0.381)
- Chad (0.401)
- South Sudan (0.413)
- Burundi (0.423).
⇒ Brazil ranks 79th, with an HDI of 0.761.
Importance of Indicators
The Human Development Index (HDI) is based on three main indicators: education, Health and Income. The importance of these indicators is their comprehensiveness, as, in general, all citizens of any country, to some extent, are reached by one of these variables.
O education indicator refers to the average number of years of study in a population. It is understood that the longer a population stays in school, the better the chances of development for that country. On the other hand, it also shows the commitment of managers with the future of their nation, as this indicator is directly reflected in the development of future generations. Thus, State policies to enroll all children and adolescents in schools and reduce dropout and repetition rates, for example, aim to improve the country's position in this type of indicator.
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At variable health, it is basically evaluated the life expectancy rate of the citizens of each participating country. It is understood that the higher this rate, the better the living conditions of its inhabitants. Actions such as vaccination and educational campaigns on health, prenatal care, system organization public health, drug supply actions, among others, collaborate to raise this indicator.
At the income question, the average income of citizens is measured based on the average of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the sum of all the wealth produced by a country in a given period (usually annual) divided by the number of inhabitants.
Limitations of indicators
The human development index (HDI) has health indicators as guiding elements (Life expectancy), education (years of schooling) and income (per capita income), however, they have some limitations, which must be considered, since they do not dialogue with the more sensitive reality of its citizens, more specifically the quality of services offered in health and education and the inequality in the distribution of income between the people.
Naturally, in a society where people live longer and spend more time at school, there is a better environment in relation to places with lower life expectancy and education. However, this does not necessarily represent conditions for human development, as the index hopes to measure.
The low health and education conditions offered by countries with the lowest health indicators. human development contrasts with the high numbers obtained by the most developed countries of the globe. Thus, it can be concluded that even though the HDI proposes to carry out an assessment with a lower weight of the economic criterion, it is increasingly decisive in the definition of its indicators.
by Hugo Mota
Graduated in Geography
