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| Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index | |
|---|---|
| Name | Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index |
| Abbreviation | IHDI |
| Established | 2010 |
| Publisher | United Nations Development Programme |
| Related | Human Development Index, Human Development Report Office |
Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index The Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index provides a composite measure that adjusts Human Development Index achievements for inequalities in health, education, and income. Developed and published by the United Nations Development Programme through the Human Development Report Office, it complements the Human Development Index by reflecting distributional losses in countries such as India, Brazil, South Africa, and Norway. The metric is used alongside other measures like the Gini coefficient and Multidimensional Poverty Index in comparative analyses by institutions including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Health Organization.
The index synthesizes outcomes relevant to policymakers at organizations such as the United Nations General Assembly, World Economic Forum, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development into a single summary statistic. It has been cited in reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and national agencies including the United States Agency for International Development and the Department for International Development (United Kingdom). Academic analyses in journals linked to Harvard University, Oxford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University have examined its comparative performance with indicators from European Commission studies and datasets from the United Nations Children's Fund.
The methodological framework was formulated by researchers associated with the Human Development Report Office and peer-reviewed by scholars at institutions like Columbia University, London School of Economics, and University of Chicago. The IHDI computes distribution-sensitive dimensions by applying inequality measures derived from welfare economics literature including techniques used in the Atkinson index and contributions by economists such as Amartya Sen and Arthur Lewis. Data inputs are drawn from administrative and survey sources maintained by agencies like the World Bank, International Labour Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and national statistical offices of countries including China, Germany, Kenya, and Mexico.
The index adjusts three dimension indices—health, education, and income—each of which is constructed from indicators used in the Human Development Index. The health component uses life expectancy estimates produced by the World Health Organization and modeled by demographers at institutions such as the Population Division (United Nations). The education component uses mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling inputs often sourced from UNESCO Institute for Statistics and national ministries like Ministry of Education (Japan), while the income component uses gross national income per capita converted using purchasing power parity series compiled by the International Comparison Program and analyzed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
IHDI results are reported for regional groupings such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, and Europe and Central Asia. Country-level comparisons routinely highlight contrasts between high-ranking states such as Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland and lower-ranking states including Niger, Chad, and Central African Republic. Regional analyses employing data from African Union, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and European Union organs illuminate intra-regional disparities also addressed in assessments by Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and Statistics Canada.
Scholars and organizations including researchers at Princeton University, University of California, Berkeley, and Yale University have raised concerns about data quality, sensitivity to choice of inequality aversion parameters, and the aggregation method. Debates echo critiques in literature relating to the Gini coefficient and to alternative indices developed at United Nations University and by the Brookings Institution. Critics point to limitations in capturing non-monetary deprivations emphasized by advocates in Oxfam reports and civil society networks such as Global Campaign for Education and issues with timeliness raised by national statistical agencies in India and Nigeria.
Policy actors in national governments including the Government of India, Government of Brazil, and Government of Sweden use IHDI-informed analysis to frame targets compatible with Sustainable Development Goals negotiated at the United Nations General Assembly. Multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and philanthropic organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation reference distribution-adjusted outcomes when designing programs alongside conditional cash transfer models tested in Mexico and Brazil. The IHDI is used to inform policy dialogue in forums like the UN Human Rights Council and regional development banks including the African Development Bank and Asian Development Bank.
The index was introduced in the 2010 Human Development Report after iterative conceptual work by the Human Development Report Office that drew on earlier proposals by scholars such as Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen. Subsequent methodological refinements and data updates have been incorporated in annual reports, with methodological discussions appearing in working papers from United Nations University and academic presses at Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. Revisions have responded to critiques from entities like the International Statistical Institute and inputs from national statistics offices including Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom) and Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques.
Category:Human development indices