Measuring human development by means of composite indicators: open issues and new methodological tools

Over the years, the Human Development Index has become a reference measure of quality of life and well-being. Its growing importance has been accompanied by a lively debate in the literature concerning the pros and cons of this index. Many works have attempted to provide solutions to Human Development Index related problems. In this paper, we will focus on some of these problems, which are typical not only for the measurement of human development, but for the construction of composite indicators. We will try to provide an answer by proposing two new methodological tools, the Min-BoD interval of synthesis and the mid aggregation point, which present interesting potentialities to be used in empirical analyses and for policy evaluations, not only in the human development measurement. The proposed tool have been applied to the Human Development Index data collected for 189 countries in 2019.