Gender Development Index

Also called: GDI · Topic: Measuring Development: Income, HDI and Sustainability · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Gender Development Index (GDI) is the HDI of women divided by the HDI of men. It shows how far women's achievements in health, education and income fall behind men's, or rise above them.

Formula: GDI = HDI (female) ÷ HDI (male)

It matters because the HDI (Human Development Index) is a national average, so it hides gaps between women and men. The GDI shows those gaps with a single number, where 1 = parity.

Explanation

How it is built

• UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) first calculates a separate HDI for women and a separate HDI for men.
• Each HDI uses the same three dimensions:
• Health: a long and healthy life.
• Education: access to knowledge.

• Income: command over economic resources, or standard of living.

• Each HDI is the geometric mean (you multiply the three values, then take the cube root) of the three dimension indices:

• HDI = (I_health × I_education × I_income)^(1/3)

• The female HDI is then divided by the male HDI.

• Worked example (India's approximate level):
• Female HDI = 0.62, male HDI = 0.71.
• GDI = 0.62 ÷ 0.71 ≈ 0.87.
• Gap from parity = 1 − 0.87 = about 13%.

The 5 groups

• UNDP places countries in 5 groups by the absolute distance of their GDI from 1. "Absolute distance" means the size of the gap, whichever direction it goes.
• Group 1: closest to parity.

• Group 5: farthest from parity (more than 10% away).

• Distance counts in both directions:

• GDI below 1 → women are behind men.
• GDI above 1 → women are ahead of men. This is also a gap from parity.
• Imaginary country: female HDI 0.75, male HDI 0.70 → GDI ≈ 1.07. It is about 7% from parity, so it is not perfectly equal, even though women are ahead.

History: the 2014 revision

• 1995: the first GDI was a gender-sensitive HDI. It adjusted the HDI downward for gaps between women and men.
• 2014: it was revised into a simple ratio of female HDI to male HDI. This is the version used today.

What makes it rise or fall

• GDI moves towards 1 when women's health, schooling or income improves faster than men's. Examples:
• more girls finish school, so women's education index rises;

• more women join paid work, so women's income index rises.

• GDI moves away from 1 when the gap widens in either direction.

• The income dimension usually pulls women's HDI down the most, because women earn a smaller share of income. Low female labour force participation is the main reason.

In India

• Who measures it: UNDP, in its annual Human Development Report (HDR). HDR 2025 is titled "A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of AI" [1].
• India's GDI: about 0.87 (India's approximate level in recent HDRs).

• Its gap from parity is about 13%. That is more than 10%, so India is in Group 5, the group farthest from parity.

• India's overall HDI: 0.685 (2023 data, HDR 2025), rank 130 of 193, in the "medium human development" group [1].

• Why the gap stays large:
• Female LFPR (labour force participation rate: the share of working-age women who are working or looking for work) rose from 37.0% (2022–23) to 41.7% (2023–24) (PLFS) [5]. That is still low, so women's income index stays low.
• UNDP says India's inequality in health and education has come down, but income and gender gaps are still large [1].

• UNDP says India lags most in female LFPR and political representation [1].

• Related gains:

• MMR (maternal mortality ratio: mothers who die from pregnancy-related causes per 1 lakh live births) fell from 130 (2014–16) to 93 (2019–21) [4].
• The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies [2]. UNDP says this "offers promise" for empowerment [1].

Don't confuse with

• Gender Inequality Index (GII): in the GII, 0 = equality and a higher value is worse. In the GDI, 1 = parity. The GII measures disadvantage (including reproductive health, which is measured for women only). The GDI compares achievements (female HDI vs male HDI). India's GII is about 0.40, rank about 102 (HDR 2025).
• Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI): the IHDI adjusts the HDI for inequality among all people, using the Atkinson measure. The GDI looks only at the gap between women and men. India's loss due to inequality is 30.7% (HDR 2025) [1].
• Old GDI (1995) vs revised GDI (2014): the old one was a gender-sensitive HDI. The current one is a simple female-to-male ratio.
• HDI: the HDI is one national average for everyone. The GDI splits it by sex and compares the two parts.

Prelims Hooks

• GDI = female HDI ÷ male HDI. It uses the same three dimensions as the HDI: health, education and income.
• Parity = 1. A GDI above 1 (women ahead) is also counted as a gap from parity.
• Countries fall into 5 groups by absolute distance from 1. Group 5 is more than 10% away. India (about 0.87) is in Group 5.
• GDI was introduced in 1995 and revised in 2014 into a simple ratio. It is published by UNDP in the Human Development Report, not by NITI Aayog or the World Bank.
• Trap: "A higher GDI always means more gender equality." Wrong. Only a value closer to 1 means more equality. For the GII, lower is better.
• Trap: the GDI does not include maternal mortality or parliamentary seats. Those are GII indicators.

Mains Points

• Women's income is the weakest link (GS-III):
• India's HDI has risen by over 53% since 1990 [1], but the GDI stays about 13% below parity.
• The main drag is income: female LFPR is only 41.7% (2023–24) [5].

• Policy links: jobs for women, skilling, safe transport and childcare. These would raise women's income index and move the GDI towards 1.

• Measure gender gaps with a set of indices (GS-II):

• The GDI shows gaps in achievement. The GII shows disadvantage in reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.
• India improved MMR to 93 (2019–21) [4], but only 75 women were elected to the Lok Sabha in 2024 [2][3].

• Once implemented, the 106th Amendment [2] could improve empowerment [1]. A good answer quotes both the GDI and the GII, not one alone.

• Limits of the GDI:

• It is a ratio, so it can move towards 1 when men's HDI falls, not only when women's HDI rises.
• Like the HDI, it counts years of schooling, not learning. It also leaves out safety, freedom and unpaid care work.

Related concepts

• Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index
• Gender Inequality Index
• Liberty indicators
• Physical Quality of Life Index

Read more

• The HDR family of indices and the liberty critique