SSC CGL 2025 Tier-II · Paper-I, 19 January 2026 · General Awareness · Question 13 of 150

We transcribed this text from the pictures of a candidate's response sheet for this paper; the answer is the key SSC marked with a green tick on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. This paper reaches us as a candidate's response sheet saved as pictures, so we transcribed the text from those pictures, and a second reader checked every question against them; where the layout carries meaning, we show the picture too. Each answer is the key SSC marked with a green tick on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. UnlockIAS wrote the solutions.

Which indicator is used to measure the 'Knowledge' dimension of the Human Development Index?

(a)Adult literacy rate and primary school enrollment
(b)Mean years of schooling and Expected years of schooling
(c)Student-to-teacher ratio in secondary education
(d)Number of universities and research publications

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The HDI combines three dimensions: a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.

Since the 2010 Human Development Report, knowledge has been measured by two indicators: mean years of schooling for adults aged 25 and over, and expected years of schooling for children of school-entering age. Those two → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Adult literacy rate and primary school enrollment — This echoes the method last used in the 2009 report: adult literacy plus a combined primary, secondary and tertiary enrolment ratio. The 2010 report replaced both with years of schooling.
(c)
Student-to-teacher ratio in secondary education — A pupil–teacher ratio measures school resources, not how much education people receive. It is not one of the HDI's indicators.
(d)
Number of universities and research publications — Universities and publications measure research capacity, not the schooling of a population. The HDI's knowledge index counts years of education.

Concept

The Human Development Reports, launched for UNDP by economist Mahbub ul Haq in 1990 and drawing on Amartya Sen's work on capabilities, judge development by people's lives, not income alone.

Each HDI dimension has its indicator: life expectancy at birth for health, the two schooling measures for knowledge, GNI per capita (PPP) for living standards. The HDI is the geometric mean of the three dimension indices.

The method last used in the 2009 report measured knowledge by adult literacy (two-thirds weight) and the combined gross enrolment ratio (one-third). Option (a) resembles that retired method, which is why it tempts.

Key facts

HDI dimensions: a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
Knowledge indicators: mean years of schooling (adults 25 and over) and expected years of schooling (children of school-entering age).
Since the 2010 report, the HDI has been the geometric mean of its three dimension indices.
The 2010 report also introduced the inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI).

Study next

The inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI)The Multidimensional Poverty IndexThe Gender Development Index and Gender Inequality Index

Common traps

Choosing adult literacy because it was an HDI indicator until the 2009 report. Current reports use years of schooling.
Mixing up the two measures: mean years looks back at adults, expected years looks ahead for children.

26 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.25 asks Sri Lanka's rank in UNDP's Human Development Index for 2022.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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