Morris, therefore, tried to look for those
indicators, which were the results of the
development efforts, were not the values
of particular societies as there could be
non-market, non-urban, non-industrial
or non-plan ways to develop.
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They should
create no problems in international
comparison. Out of hundred and odd
indicators, he could find only three which
could have universal appeal as ends in
themselves and meet the criteria laid
down. These are:
1. Life Expectancy (LE),
2. Infant Mortality (IM), and
3. Basic Literacy (BL).
These three indicators could be
improved in a variety of ways. Whether
a country should attain higher life
expectancy through better medical
facilities or better sanitation or better
nutrition, is not really important. But it
is universally accepted that a country
should have high life expectancy.
Whether a country should have a higher
rate of basic literacy through formal
channels or non-formal channels is not
important. But a country should try to
attempt for higher level of literacy is the
point. This is also almost universally
accepted. Whosoever is born will die, is
accepted but those who have been born
should not die as children in infancy.
This is the point generally accepted.
Now, there is a technical issue.
Normally, life expectancy at birth is the
index used. Infant mortality refers to
deaths before age one. Therefore, Morris
suggested that life expectancy at age one
should be used instead of life expectancy
at birth. In case, the figure for life expectancy
at age one was not available, it could
be worked out by using a formula, which
relates life expectancy at birth, infant
mortality and the proportion of children.
Normalisation of Indicators
We know that life expectancy is
measured in terms of years, infant
mortality rate in terms of per thousand
and basic literacy rate in terms of
percentage. They cannot be simply
added. Further, while basic literacy rate
can have a natural zero for minimum
and 100 for maximum, there exist no
natural minimum or maximum values
for other indicators. For the purpose of
comparison, each of the levels should,
therefore, be normalised. Morris chose
the best and worst levels in each of the
three cases. In the case of positive
indicators of life expectancy and basic
literacy, the best is denoted by the
maximum and the worst by the
minimum. But, in the case of negative
indicator of infant morality, the best is
represented by the minimum and the
worst by the maximum. For converting
the actual levels of a positive variable
into normalised indicators, first the
minimum values are subtracted from
their respective actual values and then,
the gap so obtained is divided by the
range (between the maximum and the
minimum). In other words, for positive
indicators:
Actual Value � Minimum Value
Achievement Level= �������������������������������
Maximum Value�Minimum Value
For the negative indicator of infant
mortality, first the actual value has to
be subtracted from the maximum value
and then the gap has to be divided by
the range. In other words,
Maximum Value � Actual Value
Achievement Level=�������������������������������
Maximum Value�Minimum Value
Index Construction
There are, now, three such indicators.
We may call them (i) Life Expectancy
Indicator (LEI), (ii) Infant Mortality
Indicator (IMI), and (iii) Basic Literacy
Indicator (BLI). These three indicators
are averaged to give what is called the
Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI):
PQLI = (1/3) (LEI + IMI + BLI )
Choice of Minimum and Maximum
Values
As in the case of life expectancy and infant
mortality, there exist no natural minimum
and maximum values, one has to choose
reasonable values. After a lot of
considerations, which need not hold us,
Morris chose the following set of values
They may need revision
in the light of recent experience of
countries. For example, maximum life
expectancy could now be raised to 85 years.
The conversions from values to indices
are linear. Put the actual values of the
country in the expressions below and
obtain the component indices as also the
Physical Quality of Life Index. The
expressions are given below:
Actual Life Expectancy at Age 1 � 38
LEI = �����������������������������������
39
229 � Actual Mortality Rate
IMI = ����������������������������
220
Actual Literacy Rate � 0
BLI = �����������������������
100
Suppose for India, life expectancy at
age one is 70 years, infant mortality rate
is 70 per thousand live births and adult
literates constitute to be 55 per cent of
adult population. Try step by step and
you will find that LEI is 0.82, IMI is 0.72
and BLI is 0.55. The PQLI is, therefore,
about 0.70.
|
AKHAND PRATAP SINGH
