A modified human development index and international comparison

Abstract

The paper proposes a modified human development index (HDI) which complies with the view of the Sen and others that an increase in the value of a physical indicator at a higher level represents a greater achievement than an equal increase in its value at the lower level. It also includes an infant survival rate, which is another important key indicator of development. The relative ranking of countries based on the modified index is significantly different from that based on the traditional HDI. This indicates the empirical usefulness of the proposed index.