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Economics vocabulary · Development and Inequality

Human Development Index

Meaning in economics, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In economics, Human Development Index means: A UN measure that ranks countries by combining life expectancy, years of schooling and income per person into a single score between 0 and 1.

In Turkish: İnsani Gelişme Endeksi, İGE

How it is used

Published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its Human Development Report since 1990, and usually shortened to HDI. It was designed to show that development means more than GDP per capita. Countries are grouped as very high, high, medium or low human development.

Example sentences

  1. Norway and Switzerland are usually near the top of the Human Development Index.

  2. The country's Human Development Index score has improved thanks to better schooling.

Common collocations

  • HDI ranking
  • Human Development Report
  • very high human development
  • HDI score
  • standard of livingHow comfortably people live, judged by their income, housing, health care, education and access to goods and services.
  • per capitaFor each person in a population; a total divided by the number of people, as in GDP per capita or income per capita.
  • human capitalThe knowledge, skills, health and experience of workers, seen as an asset that raises productivity and income in the same way as machines or buildings.
  • developing countryA country with a lower average income, less industrial output and weaker infrastructure than the rich industrialised countries.
  • sustainable developmentEconomic and social progress that improves living standards today while protecting the environment and natural resources, so that future generations can also meet their needs.

More terms: Development and Inequality

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