Measuring human development

THE much-awaited Human Development Report (HDR) published annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was the brainchild of the late Pakistani economist Mahbub-ul-Haq. Amartya Sen, however, has right from its birth provided intellectual insights and refinement by thinking of human development as an expansion of human capabilities and human freedoms and by contributing to develop a Human Development Index (HDI) that measures human well-being along three dimensions of life expectancy, educational attainment and command over resources required for a decent living.