Physical Quality of Life Index:

The  Physical  Quality  of Life Index  (PQLI)  was  developed  by  the  Overseas Development Council in Washington in the mid-1970s due to dissatisfaction with the use  of  GNP  as  an  indicator  of  development.  PQLl  measures  infant  mortality, expectation of  life at birth  and  rates of adult  literacy as well  as other indicators of development such as birth and death  rates all equally weighted on  a 0 to  100 scale. '['his measure  is based  on  a number of  indicators which  tell  us  about the quality of life  led  by  people. However, an  accurate assessment of these indicators is based on the  quality of data  used  in  the  ranking.  It  is  difficult  to  measure  indicators  like freedom.  participation,  environmental health  and  innovation  which  are at times included  to  get  a  comprehensive measurement  of quality  of  life.  PQLl  combines literacy rate, infant mortality rate, and life expectancy, using scales from  the lowest to  the highest values  in  the global system with equal weights to all three. Based on countrylregion-specific Physical  Quality of  Life,  it  is  possible  to  compute world quality of  life (WPQLI) and  the North-South  gap  in  quality of  life  (NSPQLI). It  is also possible to compute world literacy (WLIT).