Estimation of Human Development Index in Orissa: District-Wise Analysis

Human Development Index (HDI) is used to indicate the level of human development in different countries, to rank whether a country is developed, developing or underdeveloped. However, there may be significant interstate and intrastate variations in terms of life expectancy, education and standard of living. This paper mainly focuses on human development in Orissa. It measures human development in three different ways. The first is HDI, which measures three basic dimensions such as life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, and standard of living as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. The second is Gender-related Development Index (GDI), which relates to female life expectancy, female adult literacy and gross enrolment ratio, and female per capita income. The third is Human Poverty Index (HPI), which relates to vulnerability to death at a relatively early age, percentage of adults who are illiterate, and decent standard of living. On the basis of these indices, the paper classifies the different districts of Orissa into very backward, backward, developing and developed categories.