Social equity indicators

Gender Development Index (GDI)

Meaning statusEstablishedSource recordDirect document linkedWhy these are different

Definition

The Gender Development Index is a UNDP measure published with the Human Development Report that expresses the ratio of female to male Human Development Index values across the same three dimensions: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living. A GDI of 1 indicates parity; values below 1 indicate disparity favouring men, and countries are grouped into five deviation-from-parity categories.

References

Our World in Data (UNDP data)Gender Development Index (women's HDI as share of men's across key human development dimensions)

construction and data

EBSCO Research StartersGender Inequality Index (background on GDI: inequalities between females and males in life expectancy, education, and economic resources)

GDI context and history

Overview

What it means

GDI shows how much human development is lost to gender gaps: a country can rank high on the HDI yet show marked inequality between women and men. Because it reuses HDI components, it measures disparity in the same terms as the headline index rather than introducing new dimensions.

How it is used

Analysts use GDI alongside the Gender Inequality Index (GII) — GDI for gaps in basic capabilities, GII for losses from inequality — in country diagnostics, SDG 5 monitoring, and development-policy design.

Why it matters

It disaggregates the world's most-watched development metric by sex, preventing national averages from hiding systematic disadvantage.