Calculating Synthetic Indices : Origin of the Project

Jean Gadrey (Université de Lille 1), Pierre-Jean Lorens et Grégory Marlier (Conseil régional), Christine Ruyters, Michel Laffut (IWEPS, Wallonie) have been working on the implementation of different synthetic indices from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) at a regional scale for two regions : Nord-Pas de Calais in France and Wallonie in Belgium.

The challenge was launched in 2003, with the Regional Council of Nord-Pas de Calais (Directorate Sustainable Development, Prospective and Evaluation) that it would be possible to implement, at a regional scale, three synthetic indicators of the UNDP : the Human Development Index (HDI), which is the most famous, with three dimensions, the Human Poverty Index (HPI) which encompasses four dimensions, and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), including three dimensions, which is an index reflecting the participation of women to the economic and political spheres.

Interaction with regional Actors

Given the fact that some variables were not calculated at a regional level, the task has proved uneasy. This coordinated research consisted of following the evolution of these indicators since the early 1980s. The aim was to identify the scores of these indicators in the regions studied and to compare them with the scores observed in similarly developed countries.

This analysis has given rise to think more fundamentally of this indicators and finally to suggest some revision of them. It is currently updated. The analysis has also generated many debates with regional actors.