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Global Handbook of Quality of Life pp 133–157Cite as

The Human Development Index: Objective Approaches (2)

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Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

Abstract

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite social indicator/wellbeing index. Its intellectual/disciplinary roots lie in welfare economics, development economics, and the social indicators movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The objective of the HDI is to rank countries on a scale of human development conceptualized in terms of capabilities of humans within the countries to function. Because it seeks to be as inclusive as possible of the countries of the world, the general HDI is based on only four statistics measuring life expectancy, education, and income at the country level. The HDI and its associated Report have been calculated and published annually since 1990 by the United Nations Human Development Programme. In recent years, the general HDI has been supplemented with three specialized indices: (1) the Inequality-Adjusted HDI (IHDI); (2) the Gender Inequality Index (GII); and (3) the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Population Health and Aging, Duke University, 90088, Durham, NC, 27708-0088, USA

    Kenneth C. Land

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  1. Kenneth C. Land
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Correspondence to Kenneth C. Land .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Goethe-Universitat, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Wolfgang Glatzer

  2. University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, United Kingdom

    Laura Camfield

  3. Rhodes University Inst. Social & Economic Research, Grahamstown, South Africa

    Valerie Møller

  4. FLACSO-Mexico & UPAEP, Mexico City, Mexico

    Mariano Rojas

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Land, K.C. (2015). The Human Development Index: Objective Approaches (2). In: Glatzer, W., Camfield, L., Møller, V., Rojas, M. (eds) Global Handbook of Quality of Life. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9178-6_7

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