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Economics · Ch 2 — Indicators of Growth and Development

Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI)

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Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI)

Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI)

The Physical Quality of Life Index was developed in the 1970s by the American economist Morris D. Morris for the Overseas Development Council, well before the HDI existed. It combines three basic-needs indicators, each first converted to a 0-to-100 scale:

  1. Infant Mortality Index (IMI) — based on the infant mortality rate (deaths of infants under one year of age per 1,000 live births), scaled so that a rate of 229 (the worst rate observed historically) equals 0, and a rate of 7 (the best observed) equals 100:

IMI=229−IMR229−7×100IMI = \dfrac{229 - \text{IMR}}{229 - 7}\times 100

  1. Life Expectancy Index (at age one) — scaled so that 38 years equals 0, and 77 years equals 100:

LEI=Life expectancy at age 1−3877−38×100LEI = \dfrac{\text{Life expectancy at age 1} - 38}{77 - 38}\times 100

  1. Literacy Index — the basic adult literacy rate (in per cent) is used directly as the index, since it already runs from 0 to 100.

The PQLI is then the simple, unweighted average of the three:

PQLI=IMI+LEI+Literacy Index3PQLI = \dfrac{IMI + LEI + \text{Literacy Index}}{3}

PQLI vs HDI …

Definition 1Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI)

A composite 0-to-100 index averaging infant mortality, life expectancy at age one, and basic literacy, developed …

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