UNDP – Human Development Report 2010

UN has released it Human Development report for 2010.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is an aggregate measure of progress in three dimensions—health, education and income. As a composite measure of health, education and income, the HDI assesses levels and progress using a concept of development much broader than that allowed by income alone. . Few very important observations to be made that when we compare Pakistan with India.

1. Pakistan ranks lower than India in overall Human development index. It has been the case since 1980
2. Pakistan is way below India in Gross National Income per capita
3. Pakistan is also ranked lower in all indicators pertaining to Health and education

However, Pakistan has higher ranking relating to Gender Inequality as well as in Multidimensional Poverty Index. Poverty Index reveals that 22% of Pakistan's population is below the poverty line (USD 1.25 per day) as compared to India where the statistics is 41%.

Despite relatively lower poverty levels, Pakistan has lower ranking than India in overall HDI due to its lower literacy rate, poorer health facilities and lower Gross National Income per capita. It is very interesting to see that "Perception of well being and happiness Index" for Pakistan is higher than India. It means that Pakistanis "perceive" themselves as more prosperous than their neighboring countries where actually they are NOT.