Publication

This paper discusses weaknesses of the human development index and suggests ways in which the index could be improved. It addresses methodological and data constraints encountered in computing the three components of the index: income, life expectancy and education. The author stresses that many developing countries cannot yet provide reliable and comparable data required to compute the index on an annual basis and recommends that in future versions the data be clearly marked as estimates. The author furthermore proposes alternative methods of measuring progress in longevity, education and income.