Which of the following indicators is NOT a component of the Human Development Index (HDI)?

Question

Which of the following indicators is NOT a component of the Human Development Index (HDI)?

1. A. Poverty line ratio (Correct answer)
2. B. Education index
3. C. Life expectancy
4. D. Gross National Income per capita

Correct Answer

Option A — Poverty line ratio

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Poverty line ratio.

Key Points

• The Human Development Index is built from exactly three dimensions, and the other three options are precisely those:
  • Health — measured by life expectancy at birth,
  • Education — measured by mean and expected years of schooling,
  • Standard of living — measured by Gross National Income per capita (PPP).
• The poverty line ratio is a separate measure of deprivation and forms no part of the HDI calculation.

Additional Information

• The HDI is published annually by the UNDP in the Human Development Report, first issued in 1990 and devised by Mahbub ul Haq with Amartya Sen.
• It is the geometric mean of the three dimension indices, which matters: unlike an arithmetic mean, poor performance in one dimension cannot be fully offset by strength in another.
• Values run from 0 to 1, with countries grouped as low, medium, high and very high human development.
• Related indices worth distinguishing: the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), the Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) and the Gender Inequality Index (GII) — poverty is measured by the MPI, which is where the distractor in this question properly belongs.