HDI CONCEPTS AND DERIVATIVES FOR NEPAL,UNDP

Jyotsna KakshapatiMDevS

1Devs 504, 2011

Content• What is HDI?• Comparison of HDI in different contexts of

Nepal• Gender-related Development index (GDI)• Gender Empowerment Index (GEI)• Human Poverty Index (HPI)• Link between HDI and Environment• Analysis• Conclusion

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Institutional Author: UNDP• 1963 - to support the Nepalese in their struggle

against poverty• building linkages that address effective design and

implementation of 'poverty alleviation' programmes in Nepal. 

• The Current Programme priorities for UNDP Nepal are: 1. Transitional Government 2. Peace Building and Recovery 3.Inclusive Growth & Sustainable Livelihood 4. Energy, Environment and Natural Disaster Management 5. HIV/AIDS

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HDI• The Human Development Index (HDI) is a

composite statistic devised by UNDP to rank countries by level of "human development“, to estimate average quality of life in different countries.

• HDI is defined as composite index combining indicators representing three dimensions:

1. living a long and healthy life2. being educated 3. having a decent standard of living

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Continued..• The closer the value of HDI to 1 shows that the

country has already traveled towards higher possible value. The value is used to compare the value with other countries.

• The HDI value of different countries is classified as high, medium and low value as:

High (0.8-1)Medium (0.5-0.799)Low (less than 0.5)

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HDI THROUGH TIME

Source: Nepal Explaining HDI value and rank changes in Human Development Report 2010 6Devs 504, 2011

Nepal 3rd in HDI improvement

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RankHDI

Non IncomeHDI

Income

1 Oman Oman China

2 China Nepal Botswana

3 Nepal Saudi Arabia South Korea

4 Indonesia Libya Hong Kong

5 Saudi Arabia Algeria Malaysia

6 Lao PDR Tunisia Indonesia

7 Tunisia Iran Malta

8 South Korea Ethiopia Vietnam

9 Algeria South Korea Mauritius

10 Morocco Indonesia India

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GDI• GDI and GEI – was introduced in 1995• HDI taking note of inequality in achievement

between women and men.

• It measures gender disparity to reflect inequalities between female and male in the three dimensions as of HDI

• The values of GDI lie between 0 and 1. ( GDI Higher the inequality, GDI Lower the inequality)

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•The main reason for this improvement is the increase in life expectancy of women, which has surpassed that of men in recent years.•Together with increasing enrolments of girls, this may have narrowed the gender gap. 10Devs 504, 2011

GEI

• The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEI) is a composite indicator that captures gender inequality in three key areas:

(i) the extent of women's political participation and decision-making,

(ii) economic participation and decision making-power and

(iii) the power exerted by women over economic resources.

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GEI Nepal• Women are much less empowered than men in

the political, economic and professional domains.

• Women’s share of earned income is about one half of that of men, while their participation in the political process is only one fourth of that of men.

• The gap widens in their participation in professional and administrative jobs.

• Rural and Urban women12Devs 504, 2011

GEI

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Human Poverty Index

• Introduced in 1997• Poverty is a multi-dimensional concept.

• A composite index measuring deprivations in the three basic dimensions— a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living — and also capturing social exclusion.

• Nepal ranks 144th with 32.1 HPI14Devs 504, 2011

HPI Continued..

• Two types of poverty:- Income Poverty- Capability Poverty

• HPI 1: Three basic dimensions of HD• HPI 2: One more dimension – social inclusion• The values of both measures lie between 0 to

100 per cent.

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HPI

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HPI

Source: HDR 2009, UNDPDevs 504, 2011

Human Development and Environment (OTB)Human development

indicators Link to the environment

Life expectancy at birth Lack of adequate access to natural resources for food, clean air and safe water as well as vulnerability to natural disasters affects the health and life span of an individual.

Adult literacy rate Scarcity of natural resources in rural areas often means that family members (particularly females) are required to help in time-consuming household chores (e.g. collecting fuel wood or water) rather than educational activities or school.

Enrolment ratio

GDP per capita Lack of healthy natural resources (e.g. fertile land) means less income from agricultural activities. Natural disasters also have a major impact on GDP.

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Human Development and Environment (OTB)

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Human Development

Human well-being

Food securityPovertyHealth

Environment

HDI and Environment (OTB)

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• Livelihood• Health • Vulnerability

Low HDI

Under developed Countries

Poor people

Environment

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Analysis• Human development has improved over time,

but the trend of spatial inequality generally continues to be roughly the same.

• Development centers on Kathmandu

• Urban rural disparity implies shortcomings in the government’s policy on growth with equity.

• Exclusion imposed by patriarchal society and exclusionary state policies. (GDI/GEM)

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Conclusion

• Therefore Nepal needs to learn from its own success in health and education and apply the same determination to tackle the areas in which it is still lagging behind

• It is evident that environment is a crosscutting issue in human development. Yet there are very few, HDRs that use environmental indices or even indicators

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