Question

explain human development index as an indicator of economic development

Answer 1

Economic development is a broader concept than economic growth. Development reflects social and economic progress and requires economic growth. Growth is a vital and necessary condition for development, but it is not a sufficient condition as it cannot guarantee development.

One of the most compelling definitions of development is that proposed by Amartya Sen.

Answer 2

Answer:

→ The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic of three economic indicators, At present, the three indicators to calculate HDI are (1) Life Expectancy Index (LEI) (Average Age),

(2) Education Index (El) and (3) Income Index [ll] (life style).

(1) Life Expectancy Index (LEI) (Average Age):

→ Life expectancy refers to determining health and longevity at the time of birth of an infant and predicting as for how many years will the infant survive. It is measured in years.

→ The lowest and highest values for this index are 20 years and 83.6 years respectively.

→ As per Human Development Report 2015, life expectancy of an Indian is 68 years.

(2) Education Index (EI):

→ Education index measures the adult literacy.

→ It considers two things, (i) Mean (Average) Years of Schooling (MYS) and (ii) Expected Years of Schooling (EYS).

(i) Mean (Average) Years of Schooling (MYS):

→ It is the years 'spent in the school by an adult till the age of 25.

→ The lowest number of years of education is considered as 0 (zero) years while the maximum number of years has been set to 13.3 years.

→ According to HDR 2015, on an average, Indians went to school for 5.4 years,

(ii) Expected Years of Schooling (EYS):

→ It represents the approximate years that a child of 5 years will spend in school.

→ For this value, lowest is 0 (zero) years and highest is 18 years.

→ According to HDR 2015, the value of Expected Years of Schooling index was 11.7 Years.

(3) Income Index [1] (Life style):

→ As per new technique, Gross Domestic Product per capita i.e. 'GDP per capita' is replaced by Gross National Income per capita i.e. 'GNI per capita'.

→ The 'GNI per capita' is the dollar value of a country's final income in a year, divided by its population.

→ According to Human Development Report 2015, India's per capita Gross National Income was $ 5497 while per capita Gross Domestic Product was $ 5238.

→ The per capita income of any nation is calculated in US dollar currency and is known as Purchasing Power Parity.