human development index essay

The Human Development Index: A Critical Review

• Ecological Economics 25(3):249-264
• 25(3):249-264
• CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

• Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

• Boston University

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The Human Development Index and related indices: what they are and what we can learn from them

Researchers have developed several indices that aim to capture human development. how do they work.

Measuring human development helps us understand how people’s lives and livelihoods vary across the world and how they have changed over time.

There are several prominent measures that try to capture these changes:

The Human Development Index (HDI)

• The Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI)

The Gender Development Index (GDI)

The augmented human development index (ahdi).

The first three are published by the United Nations Development Programme. The AHDI, meanwhile, was developed by the economic historian Leandro Prados de la Escosura.

All these measures seek to broaden the scope of development beyond simple economic growth and to capture other key metrics that track peoples’ living standards.

However, measuring human development comes with many challenges. People do not always agree on what should be included. And even once defined, features of human development are difficult to measure.

So how do these indices track human development? And what can we learn from them?

We summarize the similarities and differences between the different approaches in this article and how to decide on which one to use. 1

The Human Development Index is published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2 It is the most well-known index of human development. It is based on the idea that human development means that people have long and healthy lives, are knowledgeable, and have a decent standard of living.

More specifically, these three dimensions are measured with four indicators:

• A long and healthy life: measured by life expectancy at birth
• Knowledge: measured by expected years of schooling (for children of school entering age) and average years of schooling (for adults aged 25 and older)
• A decent standard of living: measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita

The index is then calculated by normalizing and aggregating these three indicators. First, the indicators are brought onto the same scale, ranging from 0 to 1. This is done by setting minimum and maximum values for each indicator 3 , and a country at or below the minimum value receiving a score of 0, and a country at or above the maximum value receiving a score of 1. 4

Second, the indicators are combined. This is done by calculating the arithmetic mean of the knowledge indicators and then calculating the geometric mean across the three dimensions. 5

The resulting HDI scores each country on a spectrum from 0 to 1. It covers almost all countries since 1990. 6

In addition to the index itself, it is also used to classify countries into groups depending on their development.

The Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI)

The UNDP also publishes the Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI). 7

It uses the same three principles of human development as the HDI: living a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable, and having enough income to maintain a decent standard of living.

However, the IHDI acknowledges that life expectancy , education , and income differ within countries. It does so by using additional data on inequality within countries in each dimension to discount the HDI’s average values. 8

A country’s score on the IHDI therefore is the same as its HDI score if there is no inequality between people. The greater the inequality, the lower the IHDI relative to the HDI.

The IHDI also ranges from 0 to 1 and covers almost all countries since 2010.

The UNDP also publishes the Gender Development Index (GDI). 9

It characterizes human development like the HDI and the IHDI, but it acknowledges that life expectancy , expected and average access to education, and income differ between men and women.

It uses gender-specific data across three dimensions (such as incomes for men and women) to calculate HDIs for men and women separately. 10

The GDI is the ratio of the female HDI to the male HDI. Values below 1 indicate higher human development for men than women, while values above 1 indicate the opposite. Values closer to 1 therefore indicate higher gender equality.

It covers almost all countries since 1990.

In addition to the index itself, it is also used to classify countries into groups depending on how gender-equal they are.

The Augmented Human Development Index (AHDI) is produced by the economic historian Leandro Prados de la Escosura. 11 It gives a more historical perspective on human development by including long-run data. 12

Like the HDI, the AHDI characterizes human development as people having long and healthy lives, being knowledgeable, and having a decent standard of living. But AHDI adds a fourth dimension — civil and political freedom — and is based on slightly different indicators:

• Knowledge: measured by average years of primary, secondary, and tertiary schooling (for people aged 15 and older)
• A decent standard of living: measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita
• Civil and political freedom: measured by the Varieties of Democracy’s Liberal Democracy Index

The index is again the result of normalizing and aggregating the specific indicators. 13

First, the indicators are brought onto the same scale from 0 to 1. But after setting minimum and maximum values for each indicator 14 , life expectancy and education are normalized logarithmically. 15 This is done because Prados de la Escosura considers development at already high levels a bigger achievement and because he sees these quantitative improvements as associated with higher quality.

Second, the indicators are combined in the same way as the HDI by calculating the geometric mean across the four dimensions. 16

The resulting AHDI scores each country on a spectrum from 0 to 1.

It covers most countries since 1870 and almost all since 1950.

The following chart shows that for the years where they overlap, the HDI and AHDI are closely associated, with countries that score high on one index also scoring high on the other. AHDI tends to give lower scores, though, and the differences are biggest for countries with low scores on both indices.

What can we learn from these indices?

Whether the Human Development Index and related measures are helpful to better understand human development will depend on the questions we want to answer.

If we want a general overview of people’s health, education, and living standards, we can learn much from this data.

The indices are particularly useful for identifying countries with better or worse human development than we would expect based purely on their level of economic development.

For example, the next chart compares a standard measure of economic development, GDP per capita, to the HDI. Looking for countries far from the diagonal helps us identify those that fare worse than expected based only on their economic development or those that do better than expected.

As another example, the following chart compares the HDI to the GDI. We again see that some countries do relatively worse when accounting for gender differences (such as Iran and Pakistan). In contrast, others do relatively better due to more gender-equal outcomes (such as Brazil and the Philippines).

Which specific index we should use depends on the questions we have.

If we are interested in a country’s general human development, we can use the HDI.

If we want to account for inequalities within countries, we should use the IHDI; if we are interested in gender differences specifically, the GDI is best.

And if we are interested in long-term trends and want to consider people’s civil and political freedoms, the AHDI is best.

For these general and specific strengths, we provide the Human Development Index and its related measures on our site.

The indices, however, will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in other aspects of human development, such as environmental sustainability or human security. They also will not satisfy us if we are interested in indicators with easy-to-understand scores.

In these cases, it is best to look at more specific indicators.

Interactive Charts on the Human Development Index

Keep reading on our world in data.

Life Expectancy

People are living longer across the world, but large differences remain. Explore global data on life expectancy and how it has changed over time.

Global Education

See all our data, visualizations, and writing on global education.

Economic Growth

See all our data, visualizations, and writing on economic growth.

How has democracy spread across countries? Are we moving towards a more democratic world? Explore global data and research on democracy.

Acknowledgments

We thank Saloni Dattani, Joe Hasell, Edouard Mathieu, Hannah Ritchie, and Max Roser for their very helpful comments and ideas about how to improve this article.

The summary and discussion draw on:

Prados de la Escosura, Leandro. 2023. Augmented Human Development Index. Concept, Sources and Procedures .

United Nations Development Programme. 2023. Gender Development Index .

United Nations Development Programme. 2023. Human Development Index (HDI) .

United Nations Development Programme. 2023. Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) .

United Nations Development Programme. 2023. Technical notes .

The minimum and maximum values are:

• Life expectancy: 20 years minimum, 85 years maximum
• Expected years of schooling: 0 years minimum, 18 years maximum (equivalent to a master’s degree in most countries)
• Mean years of schooling: 0 years minimum, 15 years maximum
• Gross National Income per capita: $100 minimum, $75,000 maximum (in 2017 Purchasing-Power-Parity international-$, logarithmized to reflect that incomes become less important as they increase).

The precise formula is:

Normalized indicator = (actual value – minimum value) / (maximum value – minimum value)

The formula is:

HDI = (Health Index * Education Index * Income Index)^(⅓)

Information from other countries is used to estimate a missing indicator’s values for a few country-years.

Normalized, inequality-adjusted indicator = Normalized indicator * (1 – geometric mean of the indicator’s distribution / arithmetic mean of its distribution)

The UNDP presumes a five-year biological advantage for women and therefore uses different minimum and maximum values:

• Life expectancy for men: 17.5 years minimum, 82.5 years maximum
• Life expectancy for women: 22.5 minimum, 87.5 maximum

The gender gap in life expectancy, however, varies around the world and has changed over time .

It replaces the earlier Historical Index of Human Development (HIHD).

It also entails some imputation, as one of the indicators is missing for some country-years. Prados de la Escosura uses information from neighboring countries or similar indicators to estimate the missing values.

• School years: 0 years minimum, 15 years maximum
• Liberal democracy index: 0 minimum, 1 maximum
• Gross Domestic Product per capita: $100 minimum, $47,000 maximum ( international-$ at 1990 prices, logarithmized to reflect that additional income becomes less important as it increases).

Normalized indicator = (log(maximum value – minimum value) – log(maximum value – actual value)) / log(maximum value – minimum value)

GDP per capita (logarithmized) and the liberal democracy index are still transformed linearly, analogously to HDI’s normalization.

AHDI = (Health Index * Education Index * Income Index * Freedom Index)^(¼)

The geometric mean is used such that high scores in one index cannot readily make up for low scores in other dimensions.

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Essay on Human Development

Students are often asked to write an essay on Human Development in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Human Development

The concept of human development.

Human development is a process of enlarging people’s freedoms and improving their well-being. It involves increasing the choices and opportunities for all people.

Dimensions of Human Development

There are three main dimensions: health, education, and living standards. Health is measured by life expectancy, education by years of schooling, and living standards by income.

The Importance of Human Development

Human development is crucial. It helps societies to progress, reduces poverty, and promotes equality. It’s a way to help everyone live a productive and fulfilling life.

Challenges in Human Development

Despite its importance, many challenges exist, like inequality, environmental degradation, and political instability. Overcoming these challenges is vital for sustainable human development.

250 Words Essay on Human Development

Introduction, theoretical framework.

The Human Development Index (HDI), introduced by the United Nations Development Programme, quantifies human development. It emphasizes three fundamental dimensions: knowledge, longevity, and decent standard of living. However, human development is not merely a function of these quantifiable elements; it also involves intangible aspects such as freedom, dignity, and autonomy.

Role of Education

Education plays a central role in human development. It equips individuals with knowledge and skills, empowering them to contribute to societal progress. Education fosters creativity and innovation, driving technological advancements and economic growth.

Health and Living Standards

Health is another crucial component. A healthy population is more productive, contributing to economic growth and societal development. Additionally, a decent standard of living, characterized by access to basic needs and services, is vital for human development.

Societal Participation

Active societal participation promotes inclusivity and equality, essential elements of human development. It enables individuals to contribute to and benefit from societal progress, fostering a sense of belonging and mutual respect.

In conclusion, human development is a comprehensive and nuanced concept. It encompasses not only economic growth but also aspects such as education, health, living standards, and societal participation. It is about creating an environment where individuals can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests.

500 Words Essay on Human Development

The biological perspective.

From the biological standpoint, human development begins with genetics. Our genetic makeup, coupled with environmental influences, guides our physical growth and maturation. This includes the development of the brain, motor skills, and health. Understanding the biological aspects of human development allows us to grasp why we are the way we are, and how our physical attributes and health conditions may influence our life experiences.

The Psychological Perspective

The psychological perspective focuses on the development of mental processes, behaviors, and emotions. Cognitive development theory, proposed by Jean Piaget, suggests that individuals pass through different stages of cognitive growth as they mature. This theory underscores the importance of experiences and interactions in shaping our cognitive abilities, personality, and emotional well-being.

The Sociocultural Perspective

Interplay of factors.

It is important to recognize that these perspectives do not exist in isolation. They interact in complex ways to shape human development. For instance, our biological makeup may influence our cognitive abilities, which in turn can be shaped by our sociocultural environment. Similarly, our sociocultural context may impact our physical health through factors such as diet, lifestyle, and access to healthcare.

Human Development Index

To measure human development, the United Nations uses the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable, and having a decent standard of living. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Human development index

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a measure of economic development and economic welfare. The Human Development Index examines three important criteria of economic development (life expectancy, education and income levels) and uses this to create an overall score between 0 and 1.

• 1 indicates a high level of economic development,
• 0 a very low level.

The HDI combines :

• Life Expectancy Index. Average life expectancy compared to a global expected life expectancy.
• mean years of schooling
• expected years of schooling
• Income Index (GNI at PPP)

Components of the Human Development Index

What the HDI shows

• The HDI gives an overall index of economic development. It has some limitations and excludes several factors that might have been included, but it does give a rough ability to make comparisons on issues of economic welfare – much more than just using GDP statistics show.

Limitations of Human Development Index

• Wide divergence within countries. For example, countries like China and Kenya have widely different HDI scores depending on the region in question. (e.g. north China poorer than south-east)
• HDI reflects long-term changes (e.g. life expectancy) and may not respond to recent short-term changes.
• Higher national wealth does not indicate welfare. GNI may not necessarily increase economic welfare; it depends on how it is spent. For example, if a country spends more on military spending – this is reflected in higher GNI, but welfare could actually be lower.
• Also, higher GNI per capita may hide widespread inequality within a country. Some countries with higher real GNI per capita have high levels of inequality (e.g. Russia, Saudi Arabia)
• However, HDI can highlight countries with similar GNI per capita but different levels of economic development.
• Economic welfare depends on several other factors, such as – threat of war, levels of pollution, access to clean drinking water e.t.c.

Top 10 Human Development Index

Components of HDI score 2011

Lowest 10 Counties for HDI

Before 2011, the human development index used adult literacy rates rather than mean years of schooling.

The human development index was created by Mahbub ul Haq, and Amartya Sen.

• HDI at United Nations
• Measuring living standards

• Corpus ID: 1312374

The Human Development Index: A History

• E. A. Stanton
• Published 2007
• Economics, History

230 Citations

Defining and measuring human development: a genealogical analysis of the undp’s human development reports, dudley seers, the institute for development studies, and the fracturing of international development thought in the 1960s and 1970s, methodological developments in human development literature, achievements in terms of human development dimensions, the increasing role of practical reason in the human development reports, the human development index: objective approaches (2), albania vs. balkan's countries as comparative analysis of the human development index.

• Highly Influenced

The Political Economy of Human Development: Colonial Asia, 1900–2000

Human development index: changes in east central europe, 1913-2010, measures of human development: a narrative, 93 references, the legacy of human development: a tribute to mahbub ul haq, human development revisited: a new undp report, an analysis of the evolution of the human development index with special reference to its income component, the human development index: a critical review, the income component of the human development index, the human development index: "handle with care", the human development index—a new development indicator, a modified human development index, the human development index: some technical issues and alternative indices, the human development index: yet another redundant composite development indicator, related papers.

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Human Development Essay: Topics, Examples, & How-to Guide

A human development essay is a piece of writing that explores how a person or group of people can grow and thrive. Several disciplines study these processes and might require you to get ready with this kind of assignment:

• Biology analyzes human body development issues throughout our lifespan;
• Psychology views human development as gaining or abandoning certain behavioral trends;
• Sociology explains the cause-and-effect relationships between an individual and a group;
• Economics studies the growth of human freedoms through the improvement of their well-being.

This article systematizes the available bulk of knowledge on the importance of human development. We have collected the essential concepts and approaches you can explore through our human development essay topics and samples.

💵 Human Development in Economics

🤯 human development in psychology.

• 🧒 Human Growth Essay Topics
• 📑 Outlining Your Essay
• 1️⃣ HD Theories: Essay Example
• 2️⃣ HD & Economic Growth: Essay Example

The first Human Development Report introduced this notion back in 1990 . But the discussion of the relationship between economic growth and human development started in the middle of the 20 th century.

Now we believe that GDP is not the only indicator of our well-being . Human life is more than just selling, buying, and consuming.

Human development in economics focuses on the creation of equal rights and opportunities for everyone . This approach states that the entire society would prosper from the happiness of each of its members.

In these terms, human development has two dimensions:

• enhancement of human abilities;
• provision of prerequisites for our growth.

The former explores how we could ensure that everyone has access to education, healthcare, and decent living conditions. The latter involves achieving environmental sustainability and equality of rights and opportunities for people of all genders, ages, and ethnic backgrounds.

Human Development Index

The Human Development Index (HDI) emphasizes that people and their well-being are the criteria for a country’s prosperity, not only its economic growth.

Today, we use HDI to question the efficiency of national policy. It also allows us to compare different countries with the same GDP but different human development levels. Analyzing this data, governments can refocus their priorities and correct past mistakes.

HDI is calculated as the geometric mean of the following normalized indices:

• Life expectancy at birth is used to calculate the life expectancy index, where 85 years is the maximum.
• The education index is the sum of the expected and mean years of schooling divided by 2.
• This index is determined as GNI per capita.

Meanwhile, HDI is not as comprehensive as one might expect. HDRO (the Human Development Report Office) claims that it does not consider human inequalities, the empowerment of minorities, poverty levels, and gender disparity.

Psychology views human development from an individual’s perspective. This discipline distinguishes between three directions of human development.

• Physical changes occur in our bodies. How do we grow from a baby into an adult and from an adult into an older person? How do we acquire new motor skills, and what is the biology of our senses? What do our brains consist of, and how do they change with age? Correct answers to these questions help us explain the next direction.
• Cognitive changes cause the development of human behavior. What goes on in our brain that defines what kind of people we are? This domain focuses on logical thinking, learning, understanding, moral reasoning, and practical intelligence. It searches for the ways we could learn faster and become better versions of ourselves.
• Psychosocial changes track the growth of our social skills and preferences. It all starts with the principal caregiver. Gradually, we begin to interact with more people, such as friends, distant relatives, educators, and colleagues. It is all about our self-image, self-esteem, emotions, and relationships. The psychosocial domain also studies our ways to cope with losses or death.

Human Development Theories

The history of psychology knows many human development theories, many of which are still trusted. We will focus on the two fundamental approaches. They divide childhood into several critical stages that define our character, habits, likes, relationships, and even success in life.

Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget’s theory is the most widely accepted approach to child development. He believed that children construct knowledge while they manipulate and explore the objects around them. Jean Piaget marked four stages of cognitive development.

• Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years). A child learns that objects do not disappear. Their activity is all about experimenting with things to see what happens. This stage should culminate with developing the deferred imitation skill. It involves the ability to reproduce an action or sound made by another person later.
• Preoperational stage (2-6 years). Children use symbols to represent words and ideas. They develop the language and make-believe play but still lack logical reasoning. They are egocentric and cannot imagine that other people may feel or think differently.
• Concrete operational stage (6-12 years). Thinking becomes logical and focused. Children develop inductive reasoning: they observe to make generalizations about the world around them. But they still struggle with deductive thinking.
• Formal operational stage (12 years – adulthood). Abstract thinking emerges. They learn to develop theoretical ideas to explain the world.

Freud’s 5 Stages of Psychosexual Development

The Father of Psychoanalysis believed that human personality consisted of ego, superego, and id. They become unified and inseparable once the child passes the five stages of psychosexual development.

• Oral stage (0-1 year). The mouth is the pleasure center for the infant. That is why everyone is born with a sucking reflex. If the oral needs are not met during the first year of life, the child can start biting their nails or suck a thumb.
• Anal stage (1-3 years). Children gain control over their bodily functions. They experiment with feces. But early toilet training can make a child too obsessed with order.
• Phallic stage (3-6 years). Children find out the pleasure they can get from their genitals. According to Freud, this is when the sexual desire to the parent of the opposite sex emerges. Boys go through the Oedipus complex. They want to replace their father and see him as a rival in the mother’s love. Later, Carl Jung spoke of the Electra Complex, a similar mechanism in girls.
• Latency stage (6-12 years). Sexual instincts give way to the superego. During this period, children adopt the moral principles and values of their parents.
• Genital stage (12+ years). Sexual instincts reemerge. If all the above steps passed successfully, adolescents would show appropriate sexual behavior.

But this theory is too controversial to be taken for granted. Do parents define their child’s sexual and aggressive drives? Nobody knows for sure.

💡 232 Human Development Essay Topics

Since human development is a debatable and scarcely studied area of knowledge, it offers a whole lot of topics to discuss. For your convenience, we have divided them into two categories:

• The first can be used for essays on human development psychology.
• The second includes human growth and development essay topics in economics and sociology.

155 Human Development Topics (Psychology)

Psychology focuses on the emotional, intellectual, and social development of an individual. Scientists traditionally divide this growth into stages, according to the respective age. That is why the topics here can be about early childhood, parent-child relationships, school years, adolescence, marriage, and divorce.

• Child psychology: Theories of development by J. Piaget.
• How can parents facilitate their child’s relationships with peers?
• Divorce: Psychological effects on children.
• Which purposes does attachment play in infants?
• Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of development.
• Which ideas of Freud’s psychosexual development theory do you think are valid?
• Find the common features between Freud’s psychosexual theory and Erikson’s psychosocial theory.
• Child development and education.
• Explore the causes of inferiority complex in adolescents.
• Children’s play: An ingredient needed in children’s learning.
• How does one’s sense of self influence their future relationships?
• Corporal punishment and its effects on children.
• Why do we need to reward the feeling of gratitude in adolescents?
• What is the role of the family in shaping our social well-being?
• Developmental psychology in adolescence.
• Describe the principles of caregiving you consider as healthy and beneficial.
• Personal development plan.
• What is social knowledge, and where do we gain it?
• Write a human development theories essay.
• Emotional development in children and adults.
• What do the preferred leisure activities of adolescents tell us about their development?
• Early childhood classroom environment plan.
• Does the gender of the main caregiver matter?
• Study the effect of orphanage education on a child’s psychology.
• The introduction to early childhood education.
• Is a child’s family or school more defining for their development?
• Second life : Professional development and communication.
• How does patriarchal prejudice undermine the intellectual growth in girls?
• Does the lack of college-level education make a person less smart?
• Sigmund Freud’s personality and psychoanalysis.
• How did dr. Maria Montessori use human tendencies for child development?
• Adult learning theories.
• How does a father’s toxic masculinity impact a boy’s emotional well-being?
• Early childhood cognitive-based philosophy.
• Make a research summary of the role of IQ in human development.
• Explore the causes of the “terrible threes.”
• Lifespan human development: perspective and theories.
• Write a reflection about risk-taking behaviors in teenagers.
• Linking human development to the human condition.
• Is poverty the worst factor for a child’s development?
• Early childhood education activities and trends.
• Analyze the consequences of substance abuse in adolescence.
• Cognitive behavioural therapy for depression in adults.
• Do children adopt their same-sex parent’s gender roles in adulthood?
• Child abuse and neglect effects on adult survivors.
• What is the role of creativity in a preschooler’s development?
• Tools of the mind in the early childhood development.
• Do you agree that all psychological disorders of children under 12 are caused by an unhealthy family atmosphere?
• The theories of child development.
• How do we learn to control our emotions?
• How autistic children develop and learn?
• Analyze the major results of gender-neutral education.
• Early childhood education and skills development.
• When is the due time to start sex education of children and why?
• Erik Erikson’s theory of development.
• What is the tole of symbolic function and make-believe play in a child’s development?
• Family structure and its effects on children.
• Why is egocentrism in children normal?
• Infant development.
• Establish the relationship between language development and intellectual growth.
• Biological, cognitive, and socioemotional development.
• Sexism in human development theories.
• How an operant conditioning influences child development.
• Awareness of age-related change helps to live a healthy life.
• Middle childhood and adolescence development.
• The adverse effect of malnutrition in a child’s development.
• Assessment in early childhood: Special education.
• When is stress positive and negative for the psychological development of an individual?
• How video games affect children.
• Analyze human development in multigenerational families.
• Erickson’s psychosocial development and its stages.
• Compare and contrast the American and Japanese approaches to education and their results.
• Theoretical perspectives on human development: Freud, Piaget, and Skinner.
• The role of controlled independence in childhood.
• Technology impacts on the new generation of children.
• Why is periodical boredom necessary for a child to develop?
• Learning and student development theories and factors.
• Why is human development the basic need of any society?
• The development of secure and insecure attachments in children.
• Why is intellectual growth so pleasurable for us?
• Moral and personality development.
• If the human development mechanism is equal for all, why are we so different?
• 21 st century skills development.
• Why do modern sociologists think we should work less?
• Peer pressure on children in high school.
• What could we learn from the indigenous African tribes in terms of the psychological development of children?
• Interaction for child’s development and learning.
• Schools: an unknown war where we miss our childhood?
• Effects of media on children.
• To which degree do genes determine our development?
• Jean Piaget – cognitive theorist.
• Why are foster children less prepared for adult life than their adopted peers?
• When should children start school?
• When do children stop learning through play?
• Managing stress better: Personal development.
• Which socio-emotional factors make aging less depressing?
• Preschool play role in the cognitive development.
• The benefits and drawbacks of grandparents’ raising children.
• Autism as the most prevalent developmental mental disorder.
• How does lifelong learning benefit human brain?
• Teaching and supporting adult learners.
• How does lifestyle influence our cognition?
• Parent-child relationships and parental authority.
• Should adults develop an awareness of their aging?
• Early intervention for young children with autism.
• Why do scientists no longer view aging as a negative process?
• Development and improvement of communication skills.
• Which factors define our ability for emotional regulation?
• Child’s play observation and parent interview.
• Compare the Christian and Muslim cultural differences in human development.
• The early abuse’ impacts on teenagers emotional development.
• Are private nurseries and schools better for children’s development?
• Behavior change in learning processes.
• Why is generation alpha more emotionally intelligent than any earlier-born children?
• Videogame addiction and its impact on children.
• Shout less and explain more: the effect of the modern approach to caregiving.
• Adult education, its objectives and approaches.
• Why should we tell our daughters they are smart rather than beautiful?
• Personal development: Career management.
• How does social change impact the life of an individual? Give examples.
• Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s child development theories.
• Suggest mentoring interventions for at-risk adolescents.
• Adult learning and effective instruction.
• To which extent should we normalize children with developmental disorders?
• Negative impacts of adult cartoon television programs on children.
• Do developmental differences make us more human?
• Social psychology in people’s life.
• Do all families need psychotherapy, like they need a family doctor?
• Childhood sexual abuse and adolescents’ self-esteem.
• Which barriers do LGBT adolescents meet in their development?
• Life-span development and personal life experiences.
• Outline a positive youth development program.
• Understanding learning: theories’ impacts.
• Explain eating disorders as the result of incorrect upbringing.
• The influence of online games on children and adults.
• Describe the changes our brain suffers under continuous stress.
• The psychological effect of 9-11 on young adults.
• Typical vs. Atypical development in children.
• Social psychology: group influence on the self.
• Why is mindfulness important for human development?
• Importance of a teacher in child development.
• We learn behavioral health from our parents.
• Divorce influence on childrens’ mental health.
• How do behavioral phenotypes emerge during early development?
• Child development theories: Comparative analysis.
• Why do many children function differently in home, school, or community settings?
• Communication role in the children’ development.
• Suggest ways to identify co-occurring conditions in developmental disorders.
• Psychological child development theories.
• Describe the existing approaches to establishing healthy schools.
• Piaget’s stages of cognitive development.
• Parental autonomy vs. Monitoring: which is better for an adolescent?
• Postpartum depression effect on children’s development.
• How do parents’ beliefs and values determine their parenting strategies?
• Childhood and optimal development analysis.

77 Human Development Topics (Economics)

• How entrepreneurship in the energy sector can pave the way for sustainable development in Africa.
• What are the parties involved in human development, and why don’t they share the same interests?
• Should we care about income inequality?
• Why does totalitarianism entail stagnation?
• Democratic and Economic Development in Asian Countries.
• Do migrant incomes spur economic development in their native countries?
• International human resource development.
• How does the growth of female entrepreneurship favor economics?
• A development of American society.
• How can equal rights and possibilities of all people make governments more efficient?
• Resolving the problems of poverty and income inequality.
• How does the availability of loans benefit human development?
• Development Theory and Human Rights.
• Should towns transform into cities to become more prosperous?
• Resource availability for low to moderate income families in New York City.
• Is feminism a sign of human evolution?
• Rapid urbanization in the developing world is increasing.
• What is the impact of literacy campaigns in socially disadvantaged rural areas?
• Poverty reduction in developing countries.
• Find the relationship between water resources and the level of farming development in a given region.
• Human Rights for Development.
• Explore the growing urban-rural interactions in large cities.
• Employment opportunity for people with learning disabilities in the UK.
• Give examples of win-win scenarios in human evolution.
• Analysing a community development: Case study.
• Why do societies often ignore or resist the advantages of human development?
• How innovation and growth strategy will develop Abu Dhabi economy through Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030.
• Study the role of recreational possibilities for the local population.
• Values of innovation and entrepreneurship in economic development.
• The effect of food availability on human development.
• Millennium Development and Well-Being of Families.
• Do you support transnational social movements, and why?
• Compensation and benefits in an area of human resources development.
• Do religions favor economic development?
• Influence of religion on the development of colonial American society.
• Analyze the impact of socioeconomic context on human development.
• Is nationalism beneficial for a country’s well-being?
• The development of the industrial work environment.
• Which factors impede poor people from growing their capital?
• Crime prevention through social development.
• Is leisure more critical for economic growth than production?
• Alternative Fuels and the US Nation Development.
• Should the government regulate human development, or is it unpredictable?
• Development traps and failure: The negative consequences of disasters on the economy.
• What are the external factors of human development in emerging countries?
• Fiscal decentralisation and local economic development in Ghana.
• Human Development Index (HDI) Vs. Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• National human resource development in Asian states.
• Which aspects would you include in the HDI formula?
• Is late retirement beneficial for a country’s economic development?
• Environment: Sustainable Development in Abu Dhabi.
• Which material conditions affect human evolution?
• The critical points of equal employment opportunity.
• The role of sustainable development in a country’s well-being.
• Globalization drives inequality: Liberalist and structuralist perspectives.
• What is the primary goal of human development for economics?
• The income gap in the US economy.
• Are elevated birth rates a positive or negative factor for economic growth?
• Human resources development in the UK and Australia.
• What is the relationship between foreign capital penetration and human life expectancy in third-world countries?
• Economic and Social Development of the UAE.
• How does ethnic homogeneity influence human development in a given area?
• Gender wage gap and inequality.
• Why is the majority of wealthy countries democratic?
• Human resource development practices to achieve economic growth: The case of Singapore.
• Analyze the role of free medicine in social well-being.
• How can the employment of the disabled favor a country’s economy?
• Assessing why Nigeria LNG has been restricted in development.
• How is the work/family balance of employees important for a company’s prosperity?
• Workforce development and modern trends.
• Explore the effect of an individual’s well-being on a country’s development.
• Small business and development in South Africa.
• How does democratization improve a country’s productivity?
• Regional inequality of Yogyakarta.
• How does English training in third-world countries influence their development?
• Post-disaster development of Haiti.
• New conceptions of adulthood among the youth in the developing countries.

🧒 Human Growth and Development Essay Topics

• The impact of aging on human development.
• How do role models promote moral and behavioral development in the 21st century?
• Socioeconomic factors and their value in growth and development.
• The development of moral predispositions at an early age.
• The value of professional development of a person.
• Genetic regulation of growth in height and weight in teenagers.
• The role of initiative and guilt in the preschool age group.
• What are the main red flags in growth and development?
• Child health and human development over the lifespan.
• Emotional development of a person from birth to old age.
• Regulation of early human growth: the main peculiarities.
• COVID-19 and its role in children’s social development.
• How does environmental pollution affect human growth and development?
• The language development in humans and its key stages.
• How does maternal physical activity influence fetal growth?

Haven’t found the perfect topic in the lists above? Use our essay topic generator !

📑 Human Development Essay Outline

1. Introduction. By the end of your essay, your readers will surely forget what you wrote here. But do not underestimate the effect of a well-composed introduction on your audience’s expectations! Do your best to sound inspiring and upbeat in your human development essay introduction. Tell yourself, why did you select this topic? If it is an exciting issue for you, the readers will also get interested. So, the introduction speaks about the topicality and urgency of a problem. The thesis statement culminates your introduction. You should explain your position in a single sentence. Here are some good and bad examples:

Need to formulate a thesis statement? Use our thesis-making tool !

2. Main body. The primary rule here is structure. It is hard to read one long paragraph with many ideas. Introduce each argument from the new line. Give a topic sentence at the beginning of each section and then elaborate on it with examples and reflections.

3. Conclusion. In the field of human development, the conclusion of an essay should provide the prospects of the tendency you analyzed. Imagine yourself an analyst consulting an international company. What will happen if they continue doing the same? How can they reach different results? Once again, try to sound inspiring.

1️⃣ Human Development Essay Example #1 (Psychology)

Below you will find a sample of human development essays for a psychology-related discipline. It illustrates the outline we have mentioned above based on the topic Why Is Freud’s Developmental Theory considered outdated?

Human Development Theories Essay

1. Introduction. In the XXI century, we are all obsessed with development. We would like to become a better version of ourselves, develop our country, and humanity as a whole. Unfortunately, there is no axiom confirming the mechanism of human development.

Thesis statement. This essay explores the pitfalls of Freud’s developmental theory and questions its applicability.

2. Main Body.

Argument 1. Freud drew his theory from memories of his patients. But certain experiences people believe are true often turn out to be inaccurate. Sometimes, we fabricate our memories due to how we felt back then or would like to feel now. Thus, Freud used unreliable sources of information about child development.

Argument 2. Freud’s theory revolves around sexuality. But as Jung and Adler noticed, human life is more complicated than that. Oversimplification reduces us to instincts, which is not true. People have their subconscious fears and desires, but sexual energy is only one of their aspects.

Argument 3. Sigmund Freud only worked with adults. All adults are former children, but the researcher never studied children in their games, education, or frustrations. Freud had six kids, but his career never allowed him to spend much time with family. It is questionable how someone could draw conclusions about a child’s mental processes without actually speaking to a child.

3. Conclusion. Sigmund Freud largely contributed to modern psychology. He was the first to question our rational thinking and intellectual sobriety. But his five stages of psychosexual development are far from reality. First, they are constructed based on inaccurate and unreliable reports of mentally disturbed people. Second, sexuality is only one of the many things that make us who we are. Third, the scientist never did live research on children. That is why his theory is outdated now.

2️⃣ Human Development Essay Example #2 (Economics)

If you need to write an essay on human development while studying economics, you may use the following sample. It illustrates how to write an essay on the relationship between human development and economic growth.

Human Development and Economic Growth

1. Introduction. What happened first, human development or economic growth? The early signs of economic growth appeared when the first people started exchanging their goods with the neighboring tribes. They had to develop a new skill and change their picture of the world to catalyze economic growth.

Thesis statement. This essay aims to confirm the two-way linkage between the development of individuals and economic growth.

Argument 1. If that first exchange of crops and cattle did not work out, we would have never got as developed as we are now. The economic growth that happened once we had mastered “business negotiations” gave us the necessary resources to develop other skills.

Argument 2. Human development is hardly predictable. The most significant improvements in technology, medicine, construction, and science happened during the most challenging times for humanity. The two world wars showed that we could develop when the economy is in decay. But the new production methods and scientific achievements give us an opportunity to grow the economy when things get better.

Argument 3. Economic growth without human development is limited. For example, when a third-world country receives an external capital inflow, its economy stabilizes or even grows. But if its population does not acquire new models of doing business, the money will end. Such a country will return to its previous poor condition.

3. Conclusion. It would be wrong to say that human development caused economic growth or vice versa. None of the two are possible without the other. Human development happened first, but further knowledge acquisition required economic growth. Improvement of the economy does not guarantee human intellectual growth. Meanwhile, it is an indispensable prerequisite for our development.

❓ Human Development Questions & Answers

What does the science of human development seek to understand.

This science tries to find the reasons why people tend to change over time or why they remain at the same level. It establishes the mechanisms through which we become more educated, moral, organized, and civilized. The science also describes the benefits and drawbacks of human development for the economy, sociology, psychology, and ecology.

What is Human Development and Family Studies?

Human Development and Family Studies focuses on the health and psychology of individuals throughout their lifespan. This area of knowledge discusses human life in the context of their family relationships and social roles. It is an interdisciplinary science that involves psychology, economy, and sociology.

How does culture affect human development?

Culture defines the way we perceive society and the world as a whole. It affects our vision of reality from early childhood. Culture influences our beliefs, values, and purposes. Moreover, it is a decisive factor for our self-image as an individual and a member of society.

What makes the study of human development a science?

The study of human development explores how we learn, mature, and adapt to changes and adverse conditions. It is largely related to psychology but also involves sociology, economics, anthropology, and biology. It is a science because it aims to describe, predict, and understand the changes in human behavior that bring us to development.

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The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic developed and compiled by the United Nations since 1990 to measure various countries’ levels of social and economic development. It is composed of four principal areas of interest: mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, life expectancy at birth, and gross national income (GNI) per capita.

This index is a tool used to follow changes in development levels over time and compare the development levels of different countries.

Key Takeaways

• The Human Development Index (HDI) is a measurement system used by the United Nations to evaluate the level of individual human development in each country.
• It was introduced by the U.N. in 1990.
• The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.
• The HDI uses components such as average annual income and educational expectations to rank and compare countries.
• Social advocates have criticized the HDI for not representing a broad enough measure of the quality of life and economists for providing little additional useful information beyond simpler measures of the economic standard of living.

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Understanding the Human Development Index (HDI)

The HDI was established to place emphasis on individuals—or, more precisely, on their opportunities to realize satisfying work and lives. Evaluating a country’s potential for individual human development provides a supplementary metric for evaluating a country’s level of development besides considering standard economic growth statistics, such as gross domestic product (GDP).

This index can also be used to examine the various policy choices of nations; if, for example, two countries have approximately the same GNI per capita, then the HDI can help to evaluate why they produce widely disparate human development outcomes. Proponents of the HDI hope it can be used to stimulate such productive public policy debate.

The HDI is a summary measurement of basic achievement levels in human development. The computed HDI of a country is an average of indexes of each of the life aspects that are examined: knowledge and understanding, a long and healthy life, and an acceptable standard of living . Each of the components is normalized to a scale between zero and one, and then the geometric mean of the three components is calculated.

• The health aspect of the HDI is measured by the life expectancy, as calculated at the time of birth, in each country, and normalized so that this component is equal to zero when life expectancy is 20 and equal to one when life expectancy is 85.
• Education is measured on two levels: the mean years of schooling for residents of a country, and the expected years of schooling that a child has at the average age for starting school. These are each separately normalized so that both 15 mean years of schooling and 18 years of expected schooling equal one, and a simple mean of the two is calculated.
• The economic metric chosen to represent the standard of living is GNI per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP) , a common metric used to reflect average income. The standard of living is normalized so that it is equal to one when the GNI per capita is $75,000 and equal to zero when the GNI per capita is $100.

The final HDI score for each country is calculated as a geometric mean of the three components by taking the cube root of the product of the normalized component scores.

Switzerland scores the highest among 193 countries in the 2023/2024 HDI rankings from the U.N.

Top HDI scores go heavily to Northern European countries, while the lowest-scoring nations are largely found on the African continent.

The top 25 countries in the 2023/2024 HDI rankings are in the table below.

The bottom five countries are in the table below.

Limitations of the HDI

There are criticisms of the HDI . It is a simplification and an admittedly limited evaluation of human development. The HDI does not specifically reflect quality-of-life factors, such as empowerment movements or overall feelings of security.

In recognition of these facts, the U.N. Human Development Report Office (HDRO) provides additional composite indices to evaluate other life aspects, including inequality issues such as gender disparity or racial inequality.

Examination and evaluation of a country’s HDI are best done in concert with examining these and other factors, such as the country’s rate of economic growth, expansion of employment opportunities, and the success of initiatives undertaken to improve the overall quality of life within a country.

Several economists say the HDI is essentially redundant as a result of the high correlations among the HDI, its components, and simpler measures of income per capita.

GNI per capita (or even GDP per capita) correlates very highly with both the overall HDI and the other two components in both values and rankings.

Given these strong and consistent correlations, they say, it would be simpler and clearer just to compare per-capita GNI across countries than to spend time and resources collecting data for the additional components that provide little or no additional information for the overall index.

Indeed, a fundamental principle of the composite index design is to not include multiple additional components that are strongly correlated in a way that suggests that they might reflect the same underlying phenomenon. This is to prevent inefficient double counting and avoid introducing additional sources of potential errors in the data.

In the case of the HDI, the inclusion of the components is problematic because it is easily plausible that higher average incomes directly lead to both more investment in formal education and better health and longevity. Moreover, definitions and measurements of years of schooling and life expectancy can vary widely from country to country.

What Are the Indicators Used in the Human Development Index (HDI)?

The Human Development Index (HDI) measures each country’s social and economic development by focusing on the following four factors: mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, life expectancy at birth, and gross national income (GNI) per capita.

Is a High HDI Good or Bad?

The higher the HDI, the better. A high HDI essentially means that the country in question offers a generally high standard of living, with decent healthcare, education, and opportunities to earn money.

Which Countries Have the Highest HDI?

From the 2023/2024 Human Development Report, Switzerland finished first with an HDI value of 0.967. Norway, Iceland, Hong Kong, and Denmark rounded out the top five. Meanwhile, the United States was ranked 20 with an HDI value of 0.927.

The United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI) seeks to quantify a country's level of prosperity based on both economic and non-economic factors. Non-economic factors include life expectancy and educational attainment.

Economic factors are measured by gross national income (GNI) per capita. While the U.N. argues that the HDI improves our understanding of relative well-being around the world, economists have criticized the index as overly simplistic and flawed in its methodology.

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Reports. " Human Development Index (HDI) ."

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Reports. “ Technical Notes: Calculating the Human Development Indices—Graphical Presentation .” Pages 2–3.

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Reports. “ Technical Notes: Calculating the Human Development Indices—Graphical Presentation .” Page 2.

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Reports. “ Human Development Insights .”

Cahill, Miles B. “ Is the Human Development Index Redundant? ,” Eastern Economic Journal , vol. 31, no. 1, Winter 2005, Pages 1–5.

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Essay Samples on Human Development Index

Analysis of the different measures of development on the example of the u.s. and egypt.

In our pursuit to understanding the dynamics of our world, development and food production have become increasingly prevalent topics of discussion. Development, a process that creates growth and progress, is measured using Gross National Income (GNI), the Human Development Index (HDI), and the Sustainable Development...

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Comparison of the Human Wellbeing in China and Australia

Human Wellbeing refers to the aspect and growth experienced by people as entities and as an association. The World Health Organisation (WHO) outlined the condition of life as an associate with a quote “individual’s impression of their situation in the activity within the situation of...

The Relation Between the Mortality Rate, Pib Per Capita and Human Development Index

What first brought our attention into this topic was the new Netflix´s documentary that was released on September 20, Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates. Bill and Melinda Gates came across disturbing results relatively to the number of deaths regarding the lack of sanitation in...

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The Meaning and Essence of the Human Development Index

People experience plenty of changes over the period of their lives. So what is the meaning of human development? The definition of human development is the process of expansion of human’s potential, an increase of choices and opportunities and fulfillment of human rights. According to...

Human Development Index: Personality and Ability

There are many unique pieces of human development on the planet. The human developmental process begins with the union of egg and sperm at conception. (James S Naiene,2009, p. 92) A fertilized egg it contains hereditary material pressed into chromosomes got from their parent. They...

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1. Analysis Of The Different Measures Of Development On The Example Of The U.s. And Egypt

2. Comparison of the Human Wellbeing in China and Australia

3. The Relation Between the Mortality Rate, Pib Per Capita and Human Development Index

4. The Meaning and Essence of the Human Development Index

5. Human Development Index: Personality and Ability

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Human development index Term Paper

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History of the human development Index

Dimensions of the human development index, calculation of hdi, hdi and per capita, weaknesses of hdi.

The human development index is a statistic tool used by scientists from different disciplines to describe a given population’s quality of life. It mainly concentrates on various demographic characteristics although much emphasis is given to education, life expectancy, and income (Cleveland & Douglas, 2013).

The Human Development Index (HDI) is used internationally to rank countries into four categories based on the above-mentioned aspects. It is important to note that the origin and development of the human development index is closely linked to the United Nations, to be more precise, to the United Nations Development Program’s annual development reports (Cleveland & Douglas, 2013).

As mentioned earlier, the Human Development Index traces its origin to the United Nations Development Program reports. Mahbub ul Haq, a Pakistani economist is credited as the main architect behind the development of the HDI (Stanton, 2007, p. 1). Mahbub together with other economists sought to shift human development indices from national income to a more “people-oriented” approach that captured the real situation as far as human development is concerned (Cleveland & Douglas, 2013).

Apparently, the national income approach grossly underestimated or overestimated the quality of life that people within a given region led. Thus, the need for a more accurate method to indicate the quality of human life gave rise to the Human Development Index in 1990.

In a nutshell, the Human Development Index measures the quality of life of a given group of people, mainly in countries or regions with recognized political autonomy.

Precisely, the HDI seeks to investigate and establish the quality of life which is measured through the life expectancy rate (UNDP, 2013). Life expectancy at birth is the number of years a person is expected to live in a particular country with special consideration given to the quality of life. It also takes into account the mortality rate of the people concerned.

Besides life expectancy, another important aspect of HDI is the education index that seeks to measure the quality of education available to people in a particular country. This dimension takes into account the years of schooling and the expected number of years that the inhabitants are expected to have access to education (UNDP, 2013). The education index is shaped by such factors as access to basic primary school education by all demographic groups which crucially determines literacy levels.

HDI also measures the gross national income per capita that is mainly done in USD. Per capita income which sometimes can be given in purchasing power parity figures is the income per person in a given territory (UNDP, 2013). It usually indicates the production potential and contribution to the GDP of every individual in a given economy. Many times economists use per capita income as an indicator of a country’s standard of living.

Calculation of HDI has slightly changed over the years especially due to the dynamics of human life and economic development. The old calculation method that was used in the UNDP reports up to the year 2011 used three indices, i.e. life expectancy, knowledge and education and standard of living (UNHDR, 2004). In the new method of calculation however, HDI is calculated using the three indices with minor changes.

In the new method, the life expectancy index remains the same while the education index does not give a lot of weight to knowledge. It is important however to note that knowledge is considered to be crucial in the new method as indicated by one’s level of education. In the standard of living index, the new method notably uses gross national income instead of gross domestic product (Cleveland & Douglas, 2013).

It is important to note that HDI and GDP are two different terms with different meanings although they come in handy when describing human development in any setting.

GDP is used to describe the total sum of all economic activities in a country. GDP indicates the economic wellbeing of a nation (UNDP, 2013). Essentially, any effect on GDP has a ripple effect on the entire economy and can easily affect the HDI.

Given its nature, HDI is more or less an all round measuring indicator that considers many aspects including GDP to describe human development levels (UNDP, 2013).

The human development index is widely used in gauging the level of development of a population. However, it does not mean that the method is perfect and has no flaws. For instance, HDI does not take into account other important factors such as gender equality and development (Cleveland & Douglas, 2013).

Additionally, HDI relies entirely on statistics that are supplied by different national bureaus. Given the long chain that this data follows, it is likely that some of the statistics that UNDP uses to calculate HDI are not accurate, hence resulting into an unrealistic picture.

Cleveland, C & Douglas, G. (2013). Human Development Index . Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). Web.

United Nations Development Program, (2013). Human Development Index (HDI) . UNDP. Web.

UN Human Development Report, (2004). Human Development Index – Countries with low human development . UN. Web.

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Human Development Index Essay Examples

Human development index: success of human development in countries.

The measurement of a country’s economic and social status is often considered one of the most critical and highly debated issues in regard to global and regional economic research. After reviewing the first few chapters of the required reading and learning the factors that compose...

Impact of Human Development Index Levels on Human Wellbeing

Human well being refers to the quality of life experienced and controlled by people individually and collectively. It can be measured using statistics such as life expectancy, educational attainment and income and spatial areas in society and personal safety It can also be measured by...

The Human Development Index in India

The Human Development Index measures the life expectancy, literacy, education, standard of living and quality of life of countries around the world. It is a standard tool for measuring well-being, especially the well-being of children. It is used to determine whether a country is developed,...

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