Development Indicators - POLI 112 - Understanding International Development

The Challenges and limitations of Catagorization

While classification schemes are convenient for analysis and communication, each has its limitations, biases and cultural overtones.

Learn more about how the World Bank Country Classification Scheme works - How does the World Bank classify countries?

Should we continue to use the term 'developing countries or world"?

Access the World Bank's Development Indicators database for country-specific information.

UN Development (Economic) Indicators vs Human Development Indicators

UN- Human Development Indicators
Explore human development data from around the world using the interactive tools below. Data presented here were used in the preparation of the 2019 Human Development Report “Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: Inequalities in human development in the 21st century”, released on 9 December 2019. The Human Development Report Office releases five composite indices each year: the Human Development Index (HDI), the Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI), the Gender Development Index (GDI), the Gender Inequality Index (GII), and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). Data used in these indices and other human development indicators included here are provided by a variety of public international sources and represent the best statistics available for those indicators at the time of the preparation of the human development report.
United Nations (UN) - Human Development Index (HDI)
The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. The HDI can also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. These contrasts can stimulate debate about government policy priorities.
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living. The HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices for each of the three dimensions.