In 1990 the United Nations Development Programme launched the human development index (HDI), promoting this as a way of comparing living standards in different countries around the world. Since then it has become accepted as a key indicator used for international comparisons. The HDI has not been without its critics, and on the twentieth anniversary of its original launch the UNDP announced some changes to the way that the index is formed, launching a new poverty index to set alongside the HDI.
Before 1990 a number of commentators had put forward suggestions for an indicator that would enable international comparisons of living levels, but none of these gained widespread acceptance, for a variety of reasons. The HDI was more successful in gaining recognition, but why was it needed?
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