Human Development Index: Measuring National Progress

The question asks to identify the specific index used to evaluate a country's level of human development. This evaluation is based on a combination of key factors: how long people live, how educated they are, and their average income.

Understanding the Key Components

To answer this, let's look at the components mentioned:

• Life Expectancy: This refers to the average number of years a newborn is expected to live.
• Education: This is typically measured by factors like the average number of years adults have spent in school and the number of years children can expect to spend in school.
• Per Capita Income: This represents the average income per person in a country, often calculated as Gross National Income (GNI) per person.

Analyzing the Index Options

Several indices are used in economics and social science, but only one specifically combines these three dimensions to measure human development.

1. GDP per capita

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita measures the total economic output of a country divided by its population. While it relates to income, it doesn't directly account for education or life expectancy, focusing solely on economic production per person.

2. Consumer Price Index (CPI)

The CPI tracks the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a basket of consumer goods and services. It is a measure of inflation, not human development.

3. Human Development Index (HDI)

This is the index specifically designed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to assess a country's achievements in three basic dimensions of human development:

• A long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy at birth).
• Access to knowledge (measured by mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling).
• A decent standard of living (measured by GNI per capita).

Therefore, the Human Development Index (HDI) perfectly matches the description given in the question.

4. Gini Index

The Gini Index is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income inequality or the wealth inequality within a nation or any other group of people. It focuses on distribution, not the overall level of development across the specified dimensions.

Conclusion

Based on the analysis, the index that combines life expectancy, education, and per capita income to measure a country's human development is the Human Development Index (HDI).