what is hdi in geography

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. The HDI is a summary composite measure of a countrys average achievements in three dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, knowledge, and standard of living. The HDI uses components such as average annual income, educational expectations, and life expectancy to rank and compare countries. The HDI is calculated as the geometric mean (equally-weighted) of life expectancy, education, and GNI per capita. The HDI is used to capture the attention of policy-makers, the media, and non-governmental organizations, and to change the focus from the usual economic statistics to human outcomes. The HDI is also used to question national policy choices and to determine how two countries with the same level of income per person can have widely different human development outcomes.