Reproductive Health Index: Measuring Reproduction or Reproductive Health?

Abstract

The Population Foundation of India has recently published a monograph 'State of India's Population' in which, among other things one finds estimates of the human development index (HDI) the gender related health index (GRHI) and the reproductive health index (RHI). The discussion that follows centres on the last of these three composite indices, the RHI. Composite indices are generally used to measure phenomenon that are multidimensional in terms of conceptualisation. Several variables measured in different units or on different scales are combined to obtain a single dimension to represent the phenomenon being studied. Reproductive health is the complex construct that is being measured here using an index.