IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sls/resrep/1706.html

The Human Development Index In Canada: Ranking the Provinces and Territories

Author

Listed:
  • James Uguccioni
  • Andrew Sharpe
  • Richard Beard

Abstract

We develop internationally comparable estimates of the Human Development Index (HDI) for the Canadian provinces and territories over the 2000-2015 period. The HDI is a composite index composed of three dimensions (life expectancy, education and income) measured by four indicators (life expectancy at birth, average years of education, expected years of schooling and GNI per capita). We first replicate the Canadian estimates from the most recent Human Development Report (HDR) using data from Statistics Canada. Next, we generate estimates for the provinces and territories following the same methodology and using the same Canadian data sources. We make these estimates internationally comparable by scaling each province or territory’s estimate to Canada’s in the most recent HDR. This allows the provinces and territories to be ranked in the most recent HDR international rankings for all four component variables as well as the overall HDI. The highest HDI score in 2015 among the provinces and territories belongs to both Alberta and Ontario, which would be tied for fifth in the international rankings. The lowest ranking region is Nunavut, which would be in 45th place. Overall, our report highlights the diverse human development experiences of Canadians that are concealed by Canada’s overall HDI.

Suggested Citation

  • James Uguccioni & Andrew Sharpe & Richard Beard, 2017. "The Human Development Index In Canada: Ranking the Provinces and Territories," CSLS Research Reports 2017-06, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    • Handle: RePEc:sls:resrep:1706
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://csls.ca/research/the-human-development-index-in-canada-ranking-the-provinces-and-territories-internationally-2000-2015-an-update/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/csls2017-06-1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Cohen & Marcelo Soto, 2007. "Growth and human capital: good data, good results," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 51-76, March.
    2. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2001. "International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 541-563, July.
    3. Philip Oreopoulos, 2006. "The compelling effects of compulsory schooling: evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 39(1), pages 22-52, February.
    4. Chris Ross & Alexander Murray, 2010. "Aggregate Measures of Income and Output in Canada and the United States: Implications for Productivity and Living Standards," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 19, pages 20-39, Spring.
    5. Jasmin Thomas, 2016. "Trends in Low-Wage Employment in Canada: Incidence, Gap and Intensity, 1997-2014," CSLS Research Reports 2016-10, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    6. Elspeth Hazell & Kar-Fai Gee & Andrew Sharpe, 2012. "The Human Development Index in Canada: Estimates for the Canadian Provincesand Territories, 2000-2011," CSLS Research Reports 2012-02, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    7. Srinivasan, T N, 1994. "Human Development: A New Paradigm or Reinvention of the Wheel?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 238-243, May.
    8. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    9. Sagar, Ambuj D. & Najam, Adil, 1998. "The human development index: a critical review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 249-264, June.
    10. James Uguccioni, 2016. "The Human Development Index in Canada: Ranking the Provinces and Territories Internationally, 2000-2014," CSLS Research Reports 2016-14, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    11. repec:wbk:wbpubs:4373 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Niels Lind, 2019. "A Development of the Human Development Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 409-423, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elspeth Hazell & Kar-Fai Gee & Andrew Sharpe, 2012. "The Human Development Index in Canada: Estimates for the Canadian Provincesand Territories, 2000-2011," CSLS Research Reports 2012-02, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    2. James Uguccioni, 2016. "The Human Development Index in Canada: Ranking the Provinces and Territories Internationally, 2000-2014," CSLS Research Reports 2016-14, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    3. Jeni Klugman & Francisco Rodríguez & Hyung-Jin Choi, 2011. "The HDI 2010: new controversies, old critiques," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(2), pages 249-288, June.
    4. Prados de la Escosura, Leandro, 2013. "Human development in Africa: A long-run perspective," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-204.
    5. Castelló-Climent, Amparo & Mukhopadhyay, Abhiroop, 2013. "Mass education or a minority well educated elite in the process of growth: The case of India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 303-320.
    6. Szirmai, Adam & Verspagen, Bart, 2015. "Manufacturing and economic growth in developing countries, 1950–2005," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 46-59.
    7. Tiago Neves Sequeira & Marcelo Santos & Alexandra Ferreira-Lopes, 2017. "Income Inequality, TFP, and Human Capital," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93(300), pages 89-111, March.
    8. Stimpfle, Alexander & Stadelmann, David, 2016. "Marriage Age Affects Educational Gender Inequality: International Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145492, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Nadir ALTINOK, 2017. "Analyse critique et méthodologique des données d‘éducation de l’Afrique subsaharienne," Working Paper 688bd54b-760c-443b-8343-7, Agence française de développement.
    10. Ulaşan, Bülent, 2012. "Cross-country growth empirics and model uncertainty: An overview," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy, vol. 6, pages 1-69.
    11. Jeroen Klomp, 2013. "The measurement of human capital: a multivariate macro-approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 121-136, January.
    12. Messinis, George & Ahmed, Abdullahi D., 2013. "Cognitive skills, innovation and technology diffusion," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 565-578.
    13. Petra Sauer & Martin Zagler, 2014. "(In)equality in Education and Economic Development," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(S2), pages 353-379, November.
    14. Harttgen, Kenneth & Klasen, Stephan, 2012. "A Household-Based Human Development Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 878-899.
    15. Yan Meng & Christopher F. Parmeter & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2023. "Is newer always better? A reinvestigation of productivity dynamics using updated PWT data," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 1-13, February.
    16. Gabriele Ballarino & Francesco Bogliacino & Michela Braga & Massimiliano Bratti & Daniele Checchi & Antonio Filippin & Virginia Maestri & Elena Meschi & Francesco Scervini, 2012. "GINI Intermediate Report WP 3: Drivers of Growing Inequality," GINI Discussion Papers wp3, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    17. Yan Meng & Christopher F. Parameter & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2021. "Is Newer Always Better? A Reinvestigation Of Productivity Dynamics," CEPA Working Papers Series WP062021, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    18. Jeroen Klomp & Jakob Haan, 2013. "Political Regime and Human Capital: A Cross-Country Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 45-73, March.
    19. Nadir Altinok & Claude Diebolt & Jean-Luc de Meulemeester, 2012. "A new International Database on Education Quality: 1965-2010," Post-Print halshs-00910062, HAL.
    20. Hongchun Zhao & Yanjie Liu, 2018. "Where has All the Education Gone? Everywhere But into Growth," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 51(1), pages 35-74, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • F00 - International Economics - - General - - - General
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J17 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Value of Life; Foregone Income
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sls:resrep:1706. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CSLS (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cslssca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.