Current location:	Atlanta, Georgia
Current mood:	thoughtful
Entry tags:	hdi, india

Why is India ranked 139 in the Human Development Index?
Because the ranking is flawed.

I am no way suggesting that India is competing with the developed countries or anything. But I am sure it is not just 14
places above Sudan. Come on!

So, India is placed in the 139th position because of its HDI of 0.619. When things are taken to 3 decimal places in ranking, you need to
take a closer look.

I am also not saying that the ranking is pulled out of a hat. But, the algorithm definitely needs fine-tuning.

What is more interesting me is the HDI trend for India, from this link: http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_IND.html

Human development index (trends), 1975	0.419
Human development index (trends), 1980	0.450
Human development index (trends), 1985	0.487
Human development index (trends), 1990	0.521
Human development index (trends), 1995	0.551
Human development index (trends), 2000	0.578
Human development index (trends), 2005	0.619

As you can see, that's a good improvement. I am darn sure it will keep improving. Probably at a higher rate.

In general, I like the concept of such indexes. Sure, most of the numbers will not be accurate.
The weighting of the individual parameters are going to come under scrutiny. But, such indexes
mathematically approximate to the real underlying "true" index if the statisticians know what they
are doing (and I am sure they do). Also, the law of large numbers works to the index's advantage.

Also, I recommend that you look at this: http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/16.html

Playing along with this index, China reached our current value somewhere between 1985-90 (

0.595

0.634

respectively). It current HDI is 0.777 giving it the 81st rank.

Malaysia (63), Thailand (78) had our levels of HDI by 1975 itself.

In the last 5 years, Kazakhstan's (73) HDI grew the most.

India's HDI grew faster, then growth dipped, and picked up in the last leg.
(period)          (growth)
1975-1980 0.031
1980-1985 0.037
1985-1990 0.034
1990-1995 0.03
1995-2000 0.027
2000-2005 0.041


Thanks to  _dodo_ for introducing me to this interesting data.
I would love to get more questions, queries related to analyzing this data. I'll try to find answers.