Pakistan's Human Development Index (HDI) for the year 2010 is 0.49 and the country is positioned at 125 out of 169 states, says United Nations Human Development Report 2010. The HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
The 'Inequality Adjusted HDI (IHDI)' is a new measure which takes into account inequality in all three dimensions of the HDI. The report notes that between 1980 and 2010, Pakistan's HDI value increased from 0.311 to 0.490, an increase of 58 percent or average annual increase of about 1.5 percent, which ranked it 10th in terms of HDI improvement in comparison to the average progress of other countries.
Pakistan's life expectancy at birth increased by more than 9 years, mean year of schooling increased by about 3 years and expected year of schooling increased by almost 4 years. During the period Pakistan's GNI per capita increased by 92 percent. Pakistan's 2010 HDI (0.490) is below (0.516) average for South Asian region as well as below the average of medium human development countries ie 0.592 percent. From South Asia, Pakistan's 2010 HDI neighbours like India and Bangladesh are close in HDI rank and population size, with 119 and 129 ranks respectively.
The Gender Inequality Index (GII) reflects women's disadvantages in three dimensions - reproductive health, empowerment and economic activity. Reproductive health is measured by maternal mortality and adolescent fertility rates; empowerment is measured by the share of parliamentary seats held by each gender and attainment at secondary and higher education by each gender; and economic activity is measured by the labour market participation rate for each gender.
GII shows the loss in human development due to inequality between female and male achievements in the three GII dimensions. In Pakistan, 21 percent of parliamentary seats are held by women. 24 percent of adult women have a secondary education compared to 47 percent of their male counterparts. For every 100,000 live births, 320 women die from pregnancy-related causes. Adolescent fertility rate is 46 per 1,000 live births. Female participation in the labour market is 22 percent compared to 87 percent for men. The GII value for Pakistan is 0.721 ranking it 112 out of 138 countries based on 2008 data.
Since 1997, the Human Development Reports have presented the Human Poverty Index (HPI), which combines different aspects of non-monetary deprivations. The HPI has contributed to the way poverty is understood, but the measure does not capture overlapping deprivations suffered by individuals or households.
This year's report introduces the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which identifies multiple deprivations in the same households in education, health and standard of living. The education and health dimensions are based on two indicators each while the standard of living is based on six indicators.
In Pakistan 51 percent of the population suffer multiple deprivations while an additional 12 percent are vulnerable to multiple deprivations. The breadth of deprivation (intensity) in Pakistan, which is the average percentage of deprivation experienced by people in multidimensional poverty, is 54 percent. The MPI, which is the share of the population that is multi-dimensionally poor, adjusted by the intensity of the deprivations, is 0.275. Pakistan's neighbours India and Bangladesh have MPIs of 0.296 and 0.291, respectively.
In terms of income, poverty is measured by the percentage of the population living below poverty line (PPP) US $1.25 per day while multidimensional deprivations in Pakistan show that income poverty only tells part of the story. The multidimensional poverty headcount is 28 percentage points higher than income poverty. This implies that individuals living above the income poverty line may still suffer deprivations in education, health and other living conditions. It also shows the percentage of Pakistan's population deprived in at least one indicator in each of the three dimensions: standard of living, education and health.
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