Human Development Report 2009
Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development
Pakistan Rankings and Indices
Human Development Index
The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a
long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy
and gross enrolment in education) and having a decent standard of living (measured by
purchasing power parity, PPP, income).
Of the components of the HDI, only income and gross enrolment are somewhat responsive to
short term policy changes. For that reason, it is important to examine changes in the human
development index over time. The human development index trends tell an important story in
that respect.
• Pakistan’s HDI for this year, which refers to 2007, is 0.572, which gives the country a
rank of 141st out of 182 countries.
• Between 1980 and 2007 Pakistan's HDI rose by 1.30% annually from 0.402 to 0.572
today.
Human Poverty Index (HPI-1)
The Human Poverty Index (HPI-1) focuses on the proportion of people below certain threshold
levels in each of the dimensions of the human development index - living a long and healthy life,
having access to education, and a decent standard of living. By looking beyond income
deprivation, the HPI-1 represents a multi-dimensional alternative to the $1.25 a day (PPP US$)
poverty measure.
• The HPI-1 value of 33.4% for Pakistan, ranks 101st among 135 countries for which the
index has been calculated.
Gender Development Index (GDI)
The gender-related development index (GDI), introduced in Human Development Report 1995,
measures achievements in the same dimensions using the same indicators as the HDI but
captures inequalities in achievement between women and men. It is simply the HDI adjusted
downward for gender inequality. The greater the gender disparity in basic human development,
the lower is a country's GDI relative to its HDI.
�� Pakistan's GDI value, 0.532 should be compared to its HDI value of 0.572. Its GDI value is
93.0% of its HDI value. Out of the 155 countries with both HDI and GDI values, 152 countries
have a better ratio than Pakistan's.
Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)
The gender empowerment measure (GEM) reveals whether women take an active part in
economic and political life. It tracks the share of seats in parliament held by women; of female
legislators, senior officials and managers; and of female professional and technical workers- and
the gender disparity in earned income, reflecting economic independence. Differing from the
GDI, the GEM exposes inequality in opportunities in selected areas.
Pakistan ranks 99th out of 109 countries in the GEM, with a value of 0.386

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“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”