Human Development Index and the relationshi̇ps among its components

Because of economic, political and social structure of countries It is difficult to explain the development level by only one measure. Until 1970s per capita income was used as a measure of development. But development does not only consist of economic growth. Development which is interpreted only as economic growth and the social dimension of development is not considered. Therefore it will be unrealistic to reduce the cause of countries development level difference to economic growth, and omit social, political and cultural factors. The science of economics accepts that agents have needs and targets about education and health, besides production and consumption, and does research in these fields. Theoretically it is shown that these three facts (economics, education and health) have a sophisticated relationship. But theoretical and empirical research has not yet clearly defined the relationship among these facts. In this study we use the "Human Development Index" calculated by UNDP for selected 20 countries. We will investigate the relationship among the economics, education, health components of this index. We aim to show whether economic development affects the other two or, education and health affects economic development. Using correlation and Granger Causality analysis, it is seen that the strongest relationship is from education to health. The general result seems to be that all three components have an independent development from each other.