Understanding Human Development Index (HDI) and Unemployment: Economic Perspectives

Running head: ECONOMICS
Economics
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1
ECONOMICS
Table of Contents
Question No 1..................................................................................................................................2
Question No 2..................................................................................................................................3
Question No 3..................................................................................................................................4
Reference List..................................................................................................................................6

2
ECONOMICS
Question No 1
Statement for the Thesis: Human Development Index (HDI) is an effective measure of the social
and economic well-being.
Critical Assessment
This index is regarded as a combined measure for the purpose of well-being that explains
the three key elements of health life quality of humans, the scenario of education and the per
capita income. A different index is calculated for each of the explained indicators. HDI is
thereafter assessed as a weighted aggregate of the three indices. In case of health index, the
measure that is utilized is the birth expectancy. At the time of assessing education, the two
different processes used are literacy rate of the adults and the ratio of gross enrolment. Per capita
income is computed by the gross capital national income.
There are both opponents and supporters in accordance to the point that HDI is an
effective measure for economic development. In some of the cases, HDI addresses the precise
extent of development. Health and education have now been considered apart from shelter,
clothing and food as the essential necessities of human health. Each one of them looks to gain
further knowledge in order to have a prosperous future. Humans want to have a longer and
healthy life. The countries that are ranked higher in the perspective of GDP have lower rank in
HDI. For instance, USA is ranked 10th, Japan is positioned at 11th, Germany at 20th and China at
85th. The addition of the other parameters therefore gives out the actual image of the well-being
of the population of a country. The expectancy year of life in Norway in the year 2006 has been
found to be 82.9 years and the same in USA has been 77.7 years.