Human Development Index (HDI) and other Indices of UNDP

• United Nations Development Programme publishes Human Development Index as a part of their Human Development Report. 
• While publishing HDI they consider important factors such as  

1. Health  
   1. Life expectancy at the time of birth 
2. Education  
   1. Expected years of Schooling for a school age children 
   2. Mean years of prior schooling attained for an adult aged 25 years or older 
3. Standard of Living calculated as GNP in terms of PPP terms 

• Apart from HDI, UNDP during their 20th anniversary edition in 2010 included three new indices as well. Later expanded as 4.

1. Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) 
2. Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 
3. Gender Inequality Index (GII) 
4. Gender Development Index (GDI) 

Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) 

In simple terms IHDI indicate the Percentage of HDI lost due to Inequality 

The IHDI combines a country’s average achievements in health, education and income with how those achievements are distributed among country’s population by “discounting” each dimension’s average value according to its level of inequality. 

IHDI is distribution-sensitive average level of human development. 

The difference between the IHDI and HDI is the human development cost of inequality, also termed – the overall loss to human development due to inequality. 

Gender Inequality Index (GII) 

It measures gender inequalities in three important aspects of human development. 

1. Health – measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates 
2. Empowerment – measured by proportion of parliamentary seats occupied by females and proportion of adult females and males aged 25 years and older with at least some secondary education 
3. economic status – expressed as labor market participation  

The GII is built on the same framework as the IHDI—to better expose differences in the distribution of achievements between women and men 

Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) identifies multiple deprivations at the household and individual level in health, education and standard of living 

It uses micro data from household surveys to calculate the index. 

The MPI reflects both the incidence of multidimensional deprivation (a headcount of those in multidimensional poverty) and its intensity (the average deprivation score experienced by poor people). 

The MPI offers a valuable complement to income-based poverty measures. 

Gender Development Index(GDI) 

The GDI measures gender gaps in human development achievements by accounting for disparities between women and men in three basic dimensions of human development—health, knowledge and living standards using the same component indicators as in the HDI. 

So, The GDI is the ratio of the HDIs calculated separately for females and males using the same methodology as in the HDI. 

It is useful for understanding the real gender gap in human development achievements and is informative to design policy tools to close the gap.