The Human Development Report (HDR) published annually by UNDP has defined development as a process of widening people’s choices. Identifying three critical choices, viz., to have access to income and assets needed for a decent standard of living, to acquire knowledge, and to lead a long and healthy life, the HDR proposes a composite index- the Human Development Index (HDI) which combines the critical indicators in some way. The index has been used in ranking the countries according to this new paradigm of development.
The HDI, though superior to the traditional aggregate indices like GDP, is also an aggregate index failing to reveal disparities among population subgroups. It is thus, not useful for policy prescriptions for raising level of human development. Human development should from an integral part of the overall development plan to ensure successful translation of economic growth into improved quality and content of human life. A prerequisite to identification of the range of social concerns and fixation of goals and priorities for human development strategy is a detailed Human Development profile (HDP). The profile should address a broad range of national concerns relevant for the country depending on the current status of and deficiencies in various dimensions of human development. It should indicate the positions of various population subgroups in the human development ladder- who stands where, to make it easier to set long and short term goals, decide priorities and identify areas needing micro intervention.