Question

The Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) is a composite of how many indices?

• A. Two
• B. Three
• C. Four
• D. Five

Answer 1

Answer:

B. Three

Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI)

• The Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) is a composite measure designed to assess the quality of life or well-being of a country's population.
• It was developed by Morris David Morris in 1979.
• PQLI was created as an alternative to purely economic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), aiming to reflect the actual living standards and social welfare.
• The primary focus of PQLI is on non-income aspects of development, emphasizing basic human needs.

The Three Component Indices of PQLI

• PQLI is a composite of three primary indicators, each given equal weight (i.e., their average constitutes the PQLI score):
  1. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): This measures the number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births. A lower IMR signifies better healthcare facilities, nutrition, and overall public health.
  2. Adult Literacy Rate: This represents the percentage of the population aged 15 and above who can read and write. It is a key indicator of educational attainment and human capital development.
  3. Life Expectancy at Age One: This indicates the average number of additional years a person can expect to live once they have reached one year of age. It is used instead of life expectancy at birth to reduce the direct impact of high infant mortality on the overall life expectancy figure, thereby reflecting general health conditions beyond infancy.

Scoring and Interpretation

• Each of the three indicators is converted to a scale of 1 to 100, where 1 signifies the worst performance and 100 signifies the best possible performance for that indicator.
• The final PQLI score for a country is the simple average of these three scaled indicators.
• A higher PQLI score indicates a better physical quality of life for the population.

PQLI vs. Human Development Index (HDI)

• PQLI was an early and significant attempt to measure development beyond economic growth.
• It laid groundwork for later, more comprehensive indices like the Human Development Index (HDI), which was introduced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1990.
• While PQLI focuses exclusively on health and education outcomes, HDI incorporates an additional dimension of income (Gross National Income per capita) alongside health (Life Expectancy at Birth) and education (Mean and Expected Years of Schooling).