Unit 3 and 4: all the indexes and indicators

what is the OECD better life index

allows you to compare well-being across countries, based on 11 topics the OECD has identified as essential, in the areas of material living conditions and quality of life (housing, income, jobs , community, education, environment, governance, health, life satisfactions, safety, work-life balance). these are not ranked in any particular way making comparisons difficult.

what is the happiness index

representative samples of respondents in a country are asked to rate their own current lives using 14 indicators (business and economic, citizen engagement, communications and technology, diversity, education and families, emotional wellbeing, environment and energy, food and shelter, government and politics, law and order, health, religion and ethics, transportation, and work employment.
economists believe that happiness leads to greater productivity performance and profits as well as peace.

evaluate the happiness index

the index is updated to reflect changes in what contributes to wellbeing. reflects how changes in information technology, governance and social norms influence communities and their level of wellbeing.
however this makes it difficult to make historical comparisons

what is the happy planet index

used to measure the extent to which individuals and countries are able to achieve long happy and sustainable lives emphasising the impact of economic activity on the environment by giving higher scores to countries with lower ecological footprints.
it measures both the current and future prosperity of individuals and societies.
measured using 4 indicators:
1. well being
2. life expectancy
3. inequality of outcomes
4. ecological footprint

how to calculate the happy planet index

HPI = (well being x life expectancy x inequality) / ecological footprint

what is the inequality-adjusted human development index

• combines a country’s indicators oh health, education, and income with consideration of how these measures are distributed among the country’s population.

• includes the social and economic costs of inequality that is the overall loss to human development

• countries like Saudi and UAE have a lower HDI when inequalities are counted

• the indicators are: a long and healthy life, a good education, and a decent standard of living

gender inequality index

• calculates gender disparities by using three measures of gender inequality

• reproductive health: this uses two measures, maternity mortality ratio (the number of deaths of mothers per 100,000 live births) and the adolescent fertility rate (the number of births per 1000 women between 15 and 19)

• empowerment: this uses two indicators, the share of parliamentary seats held by each gender and higher education attainment levels. the UAE has a 50/50 split in parliament of male and female.

• labour market participation of women: the percentage of females in the country aged over 15 and below 64 who are employed or willing to work. the higher the labour market participation rate the greater the level of household income and the lower poverty tends to be.

what is the human development index

• composite indicator of life expectancy, educational attainment and income

• healthcare: measures life expectancy at birth. the better the healthcare in a country the greater the social and economic well being tends to be.

• education: this indicator measures the mean years of schooling and the expected years of schooling in the country

• income levels: measures the national income of a country (using PPP).

• Norway has a high HDI of 0.957 whereas Sierra Leone’s HDI is 0.452

limitations of the HDI

• qualitative factors - the HDI ignores qualitative measures affecting standards of living such as gender inequalities and human rights

• income distribution - the HDI does not take account of inequitable income distribution

• environmental issues - the HDI ignores the impact of environmental and resource depletion on development.

• ignores cultural differences - when interpreting the meaning of standards of living and quality of life, both of which are vital aspects of human development.

• sustainable development - consuming more today can jeopardise the standard of living for future generations owing to resource depletion and destruction of natural habitats

single indicators: GDP/GNI per capita at PPP

• PPP can be used for international comparisons

• GDP and GNI are the most used single indicators of standards of living in a country

• the UAE is in top 25 before accounting for PPP and top 10 when accounting for PPP

single indicators: health indicators

measures economic development through the important attributes of health-related determinants of the quality of life such as: longevity, expenditure on healthcare as a percentage of GDP, and under-five mortality rates.

Japan has the highest life expectancy and also spends 10% of their GDP on healthcare.

single indicators: education indicators