have tried to calculate historical measures of HDI (see Box 1.1) enabling long-
term comparisons of broader ideas of development. The HDRs have acknowl-
edged and tried to engage with the poor data quality. In 1991 the index of
educational attainment included both adult literacy rates and mean years of
schooling. In 1995, owing to problems in measuring educational attainment,
the variable was changed to a combination of adult literacy (two-thirds weight)
and gross combined primary, secondary and tertiary enrolment (one-third
weight) (Tisdell et al.,2001). The very fact of the reports being published
annually has provided a spur to the better collection and presentation of rele-
vant data.
Some have argued that the HDI could be improved by including indicators
of political freedom and human rights. The importance of political freedom is
striking in the work of Amartya Sen. A Political Freedom Index was included
in the HDR in 1992. This index had five components – personal security, rule
of law, freedom of expression, political participation and equality of opportu-
nity – and drew on data from 102 countries. It was dropped from the HDR the
following year for political, not academic reasons. The ranking of countries
according to these subjective criteria generated a lot of controversy (Fukuda-
Parr and Kumar, 2003). In the 1995 Report two new indices were introduced:
the Gender-related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment
Measure (GEM). The GDI uses the same variables as the HDI but makes an
adjustment if life expectancy, educational attainment and income measures are
unequal between men and women. The GEM is an indicator of the empower-
ment of women measured by their relative presence in national parliament and
administrative, managerial, professional and technical positions. No country
in the world has a GDI as high as its HDI, indicating that all countries in the
world have some gender gaps. The gap is lowest in Sweden where the GDI is
only 1 per cent smaller than the HDI. The largest gender inequality penalties
30 Sources of Growth in the Modern World Economy since 1950
Box 1.1 Historical calculations of HDIHistorical calculation of HDIs by Nick Crafts reveals a distinct pattern of
progress. By the late 1990s the HDI in most developing countries exceeded that
of Western Europe in 1870. The gaps in HDI between Western Europe and each
of Africa, China and India were smaller in 1999 than in 1950. These outcomes
have been heavily influenced by widespread gains in life expectancy.
In 1870 the HDI was 0.516 in Australia, 0.515 in Switzerland and 0.506 in the
US. By 1999 these had been surpassed by most developing countries, such as
Egypt 0.635, Bolivia 0.648 and Sri Lanka 0.735, but were still above Malawi
0.397, Mozambique 0.323 and Nepal 0.480. Contemporary developing coun-
tries have also improved their HDIs at a much faster rate. The HDI in Australia
increased by 0.264 (from 0.516 to 0.780) in the eighty years between 1870 and- Sudan, despite enduring civil war and famine, increased its HDI by 0.236
(from 0.161 to 0.397) between 1950 and 1999 (Crafts, 1999:396–7).