Development and various Indexes

Development is too complex but we have various indexes in front of us to measure whether nation developed or not. If see some of the indexes are completely based on money and there is no room for other criteria but some have other parameters. I am putting some critics with following development indexes. There is no connection between one index to index, for instance in GDP USA stands first but in HPI stand 150^th place – such a variation in the calculation system.

Human Development Index (HDI)

It is criticized on a number of grounds, including failure to include any ecological considerations, focusing exclusively on national performance and ranking. The index has also been criticized is a "reinvention of the wheel", measuring aspects of development that have already been exhaustively studied. The index has further been criticized for having an inappropriate treatment of income, lacking year-to-year comparability

Norway is first rank in HDI followed by Australia in 2^nd, New Zealand in 3^rd, USA in 4^th, Sri lanka in 91^st, Pakistan in 125^th and India in 119^th place during 2010 report released by UNDP

Happy Planet Index (HPI)

Much criticism of the index has been due to commentators falsely understanding it to be a measure of happiness, when it is in fact a measure of the ecological efficiency of supporting well-being. Criticism has focused on the following

· That the HPI completely ignores issues like political freedom, human rights and labor rights.

· That the world values survey covers only a minority of the world's nations and is only done every five years. As a result, much of the data for the index must come from other sources, or is estimated using regressions.

· That the ecological footprint is a controversial concept with many criticisms

Norway is in 115^th rank in HPI followed by Australia in 139^th , New Zealand in 94^th, USA in 150^th, Sri lanka in 15^th,Pakistan in 115^th and India in 90^th place during 2010 report released by UNDP

In this case Vanuatu is the first place followed by Colombia and Costa Rica in 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively

Global Peace Index (GPI)

The Economist (weekly magazine and publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd.) in publishing the index admitted that, "the index will run into some flak." Specifically, according to The Economist, the weighting of military expenditure "may seem to give heart to freeloaders: countries that enjoy peace precisely because others (often the USA) care for their defense." The true utility of the index may lie not in its specific rankings of countries now, but in how those rankings change over time, thus tracking when and how countries become more or less peaceful. The Peace Index has been criticized for not including indicators specifically relating to violence against women and children

Norway is in 5^th rank in GPI followed by Australia in 19^th , New Zealand in 1^st, USA in 85^th, Sri lanka in 133^th, Pakistan in 155^th and India in 128^th place during 2010 report released by UNDP

In this case New Zealand is the first place followed by Iceland and Japan in 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively

Gross Domestic Products (GDP)

GDP is widely used by economists to gauge the health of an economy, as its variations are relatively quickly identified. However, its value as an indicator for the standard of living is considered to be limited. Not only that, but if the aim of economic activity is to produce ecologically sustainable increases in the overall human standard of living, GDP is a perverse measurement; it treats loss of ecosystem services as a benefit instead of a cost

GDP is not a tool of economic projections, which would make it subjective; it is just a measurement of economic activity. That is why it does not measure what is considered the sustainability of growth. A country may achieve a temporarily high GDP by over-exploiting natural resources or by misallocating investment

Norway is in 25^th rank in GDP followed by Australia in 13^th , New Zealand in 51^st, USA in 1^st, Sri lanka in 73^rd, Pakistan in 47^th and India in 10^th place during 2010 report released by UNDP

In this case USA is the first place followed by China and Japan in 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively