Designing the Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (HDI)

This paper proposes a method for adjusting the HDI to reflect the distribution of human development achievements across the population, and across dimensions, using an inequality measure from the Atkinson family. We begin with a discussion of the proposed indices in an idealized setting where variables and their scales have been identified and the data are available. We then address the practical issues that arise when applying these methods to real data. The final section presents and evaluates another related approach.

Authors: Sabina Alkire and James Foster.

Year: 2010.

Citation: Alkire, S. and Foster, J. (2010). 'Designing the inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (HDI)', OPHI Working Papers 37, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford.

Also published as Human Development Research Paper 2010/28.