An Alternative Approach to Measure HDI

The popularly known Human Development Index (HDI) is obtained through linear averaging (LA) of indices in three dimensions- health, education and standard of living. This paper questions the appropriateness of LA method and proposes an alternative measure, which is the inverse of the Euclidian distance from the ideal, known as Displaced Ideal (DI) method. The paper shows the advantages of the DI method. The authors strongly propose that the DI method be considered over the LA method in the construction of HDI. [IGIDR WP no. 2008-001]