Sustainability assessment index: a strong sustainability approach to measure sustainable human development

This article emphasizes the need for an alternative index which considers sustainability of human development and formulates an index based on strong sustainability. The strong sustainability notion underlines the need for sustaining natural capital resembling ecological footprints and is superior to a weak sustainability criterion since natural capital cannot be substitutable to a wider extent for fostering sustainable human development. The Ecological Footprint Biocapacity Index (EFBI) constructed is used in formulating Sustainable Human Development Index (SHDI) along with the other components of UNDP HDI. A comparative analysis has been made to justify the Sustainability Assessment Index as an appropriate index than other available indices. Statistics applied on the UNDP HDI and the Sustainable HDI shows significant difference between the two. The goal is to logically justify the need for a suitable index which can capture human development in terms of its sustainability.