Which index combines income, literacy, education, and life expectancy to measure development?

• A. HDI
• B. Literacy Rate
• C. Maternal Mortality Ratio
• D. Microfinance

Answer: (A)

A single index that reflects health, education, and living standards is the Human Development Index. It blends three dimensions: life expectancy to capture health, education through mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling (which cover literacy and schooling access), and income per capita adjusted for purchasing power to reflect standard of living. These components are normalized and combined into a score from 0 to 1, enabling cross-country comparisons of human development beyond income alone. The other options are not composite measures of development: a literacy rate is just one educational metric, maternal mortality ratio is a health outcome, and microfinance is a development tool rather than a measurement index.