What is Human Development Index?
It is an index which measures achievement in different areas of human development like
Long and Healthy life
Knowledge
Decent Standard of living
What are Different Human Development Indicators?
In this case, we measure following:
| Indicators | Meaning |
| Life Expectancy | No of Years Person is expected to live |
| Mean Years of Schooling | No of years a person has attended school |
| Gross National income per Capita | Income per Person |
| People below Poverty Line | No of Persons earning below Poverty limit of $3.2 per day |
| Infant Morality Rate | No of children who die at birth |
| Maternal Mortality Rate | No of women who die at child birth |
| Population with atleast Basic Sanitation | Availability of Sanitation Facilities like Toilet |
| Population with atleast Basic Drinking Water | Availability of clean drinking water to live |
| Percentage of undernourished Children | No of Children who do not get sufficent nutrients required for growth |
Note
On certain Indicators, Higher the Better
On Others, Lower the better
How do India, Pakistan and China Rank on Various Human Development Indicators?
China Perform better than India and Pakistan on almost all Human Development Indicators
Example
China has higher Human Development Index Rank and Value
It also has higher Per capital income, higher life expectancy and higher mean years of schooling
It also has lower Infant and Maternal Mortality Rate and Percentage of undernourished Children
It is also better than India and Pakistan in Basic Sanitation and Clean Drinking Water
In which Human Development Indicator Pakistan ranks better than India?
Pakistan ranks better than India in India Pakistan
Persons Below Poverty Line 60.40% 46.4
international Poverty Rate is 3.2 dollars a day
Those earning below this are called Living below Poverty line
Pakistan has lesser no of People below poverty line compared to india
It means Pakistan has been successful in reducing poverty as compared to India
However, it is still much less than China
Are the measurement of Human Development Indicators sufficent to measure human development?
No, they are not sufficient
They do not measure participation in social and democratic decision making of country
Example - China is not a democratic country and there is one Party Rule
Hence, people do not have fundamental rights like electing their own governments
This is not measured by Human Development Index
What are Liberty Indicators?
It refers to those indicators which represent the degree of civil or political freedom of citizens of country
It measures participation in social and democratic decision making of country
It measures how much safeguards have been given in constitution to
Protect fundamental rights of Citizen
Independence of Judiciary
How do China India Pakistan perform on Liberty Indicators?
India is much higher than both Pakistan and China on liberty indicators
In India,
There is freedom to protest, freedom to practice one's religon and independent judiciary
India also has solid democracy where elections are held regularly and governemnt of different political parties is formed
In China
there is one Party Rule
Hence, people do not have fundamental rights like electing their own governments
In Pakistan
There is democracy and governemnt are elected regularly
But there have been miltary coups in Pakistan where military have forcefully taken over the governments
Summary
China is better in Human Development Indicators but lacks in Liberty Indicators
India performs much better in Liberty indicators but have work to do in Human Development Indicators
Pakistan has performed better than India in reducing no of people below poverty line but lacks on other fronts
NCERT Questions
Question 10
Mention the various indicators of human development.
View AnswerThe indicators of human development are:
- Life Expectancy
- Infant Mortality Rate
- Maternal Mortality rate
- GDP per capita
- Percentage of Population below poverty line
- Percentage of Population undernourshied
Question 11
Define the liberty indicator.
Give some examples of liberty indicators
View AnswerIt refers to those indicators which represent the degree of civil or political freedom of citizens of country
It measures participation in social and democratic decision making of country
Example:
It measure the extent of the constitutional protection rights given to the citizens
Extent of the constitutional protection of the independence of thr judiciary
