It measures countries' average achievements in three basic dimensions of human development: life expectancy at birth, adult literacy and school enrolment, and income as measured by GDP per capita in purchasing power parity (PPP) in US dollars.
Njime se meri prosek uspeha zemalja u tri osnovne dimenzije ljudskog razvoja: životnom veku, pismenosti odraslih ljudi i upišu u škole, kao i ličnim dohocima procenjenim prema BDP-u po glavi stanovnika u kupovnoj moći obračunatoj u američkim dolarima.