The Economic- Social Human Development Index: A New Measurement of Human Development

Abstract

The main contribution in this paper lies in using the ESHDI with a combination of economic and social indicators which measures achievements of human development. The result is the creation of the Economic-Social Human Development Index (ESHDI) as composite index. The proposed index introduces the ESHDI as an alternative or may be a companion to the HDI. It is a good representative measure of human development takes into account when measuring the level of human development of a country, Firstly: the level of economic human development (expressed as the Economic Human Development Index(EHDI)), which is measuring achievements in two basic dimensions: income dimension and economic policy dimension and Secondly: the level of social human development (expressed as the Social Human Development Index(SHDI)), which is measuring achievements in three basic dimensions: a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of social living. The sub-indices are then combined into a composite index that measures the average achievements of human development in a country. The ESHDI is based on four indicators representing the economic human development index and twelve indicators representing the social human development index, whereas the HDI simply assesses the development based upon three equally weighted indicators. Furthermore, Values under the standard normal cumulative distribution curve corresponding to the value of (z) standard have used for scaling indicators on scale between 0 to 1 in this method , leading to the reduction of issues faced by HDI measurements. The results of the ESHDI are manageable and easily understood, and the value of index between 0 to 1, where the greater is the better. The ESHDI was calculated for 164 countries, member in UN and the measurement has detected more differentiation between developed and underdeveloped countries. In the light of, the results presented here imply that the ESHDI can be a good representative and a measure for human development.