The Human Development Index

For when you have a few moments to reflect… What is HDI and why should we be pondering it?

I just read a New York Times article that questioned whether GDP, Gross Domestic Product, is an accurate way to capture the health and progress of a country. We hear GDP a lot; it’s simply a sum of all economic activity. But it ignores some of the important factors which contribute to quality of life, such as education and health. How could a more encompassing quality of life, health of a nation, be measured?

Well, check out HDI – the Human Development Index, a model being used by the United Nations. Reading the article caused me to reflect on what’s important and how it can be measured. Of course, I thought about schools too. What would a Human Development Index for a school look like? What should be measured and how should it be measured?

What do you think?