Economics

Department of Economics
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5330 USA
(269) 387-5535

Human Development Data, UN

OVERVIEW

The Human Development Data (HDD) of the United Nation is the integrated database for the Human Development Reports created in 1990. This database provides statistics essential for economic, environmental, and social development. Its key-featured indicators include the Human Development Index (HDI), the Gender Development Index (GDI), the Gender Inequality Index (GII), and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). It covers topics such as education, environmental sustainability, health, inequality, and other topics. The data are currently available from 1990 to 2017 while the 2018 update is available in a separate section. *

*This description is a paraphrased version of the description on the Human Development Reports website.

Available data file formats

CSV

Accessibility

This is an open data source that is for public use.

HOW TO RETRIEVE DATA BY EXAMPLE

Scenario

Suppose you want to explore gender equality over time in four African countries, Ethiopia, Libya, Niger, and South Africa from 2005 to 2016. You know that the Gender Inequality Index (GII) is a good measure of gender inequality. The GII ranges from 0 to 1 and higher value of GII indicates high levels of gender inequality.

Step-by-step

  • Locate the data source. Go to . The Human Development Index (HDI) is set by default.

Screenshot of the Human Development Data (1990-2017) main page. On the top of the page, there is a filter, Dimension.

  • Find the right indicator. In the middle of the screen, you will see Select. From the Dimension drop down menu choose Gender and then select Gender Inequality Index (GII) from the Gender drop-down menu. This selection matches your topic.

Screenshot similar to the image above except a new filter Gender shows up below the filter Dimension once Gender is chosen from its drop-down menu. In the drop-down of filter Gender, Gender Inequality Index (GII) is listed on the sixth.

  • Choose the countries of interest. Once you choose the right indicator, you can select the countries of interest. All countries are selected by default for GII, thus you first need to Clear All counties. After you do that, all the countries on the list change their colors into gray. Then you click the square box in front of each of the four countries of interest. The square box would change its color after you make a choice. Now you would be able to see the Line view on the right of the screen. The Bar view is only for a specific year. So if you want to see how GII looks in a specific year, you can click on Bar to make that change and follow the same procedure as Line view.

Screenshot of the graph section. Below the filters Dimension and Gender, on the left side, there is a list of countries and regions for you to select. On the right, one line chart is generated for the indicator for the selected countries.

  • Download your data. Just under the Line view of the GII, there is a button Download Data. Click on it to get your data. Though the data are available to download, the downloaded data are the GII for all countries on the list. (If you want to get the data for the four countries only, you will need to delete the other countries in your Excel file.)

Screenshot similar to the image above except there is a Download Data button appearing in the lower-right corner.

Be sure to consult with the source website on how to properly cite your data. For this scenario, the citation in APA format would look something like:

Human Development Reports. Gender Inequality Index. United Nations Development Program. http://hdr.undp.org (Accessed on December 2, 2019)