Human Development (World)

Growth And Development

Growth and Development are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings, especially in the context of human populations and economies.

• Growth: Refers to an increase in the size or scale of something. In population studies, it means an increase in the number of people. In economics, it often refers to an increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Gross National Product (GNP). Growth is quantitative – it's about increase in quantity.
• Development: Refers to qualitative improvement, progress, and advancement. It signifies positive change and enhancement in the quality of life, well-being, capabilities, and opportunities available to people. Development is about improvement in quality.

Relationship between Growth and Development:

• Economic growth (increase in GDP/GNP) can contribute to human development by providing resources for education, healthcare, and infrastructure.
• However, growth does not automatically lead to development. If the benefits of growth are not equitably distributed, or if growth comes at the cost of environmental degradation or social inequality, then development may not occur.
• Human development focuses on improving the lives people can lead. It is about expanding people's choices and capabilities. High GDP does not always correlate with high human development if those resources are not used to improve the well-being of the majority of the population.

Focus of Human Development: Human development emphasizes aspects like health (longevity), education (knowledge), and a decent standard of living (income). It aims to create an environment where people can live long, healthy, and creative lives.

The Four Pillars Of Human Development

The concept of human development, championed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is built upon four essential pillars that ensure people can live lives of dignity and opportunity.

Equity

Definition: Equity means ensuring that opportunities are available to all people, regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, location, or socio-economic background. It emphasizes fairness and justice in the distribution of resources and opportunities.

Types of Equity:

• Intra-generational Equity: Ensuring fairness among all people living today. It means that opportunities should be accessible to everyone in the current generation.
• Inter-generational Equity: Ensuring that future generations have access to the resources and opportunities needed for their well-being. This involves sustainable use of resources and protection of the environment.

Importance: Development cannot be truly achieved if a significant portion of the population is denied opportunities due to circumstances beyond their control. Equity is fundamental to inclusive and sustainable development.

Sustainability

Definition: Sustainability means that development should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It involves balancing economic growth, social equity, and environmental protection.

Aspects of Sustainability:

• Economic Sustainability: Ensuring that economic growth is maintained over time without depleting resources needed for the future.
• Social Sustainability: Promoting equity, social cohesion, and participation, ensuring that all members of society benefit from development.
• Environmental Sustainability: Protecting the natural environment and its resources for current and future generations, conserving biodiversity, and mitigating climate change.

Importance: Development that depletes natural capital or creates social divides is not sustainable and will ultimately undermine well-being.

Productivity

Definition: Productivity in the context of human development refers to the production of goods and services, but more importantly, it emphasizes enhancing human capabilities and enabling people to be more productive. It's about human productivity – how people can contribute more effectively to economic and social progress.

Enhancing Human Productivity:

• Investing in Human Capital: Providing quality education, healthcare, and training enables people to acquire skills and knowledge, thus increasing their productivity.
• Creating Opportunities: Ensuring access to employment, entrepreneurship, and economic resources allows individuals to utilize their capabilities.
• Promoting Innovation and Technology: Technological advancements can enhance productivity across sectors.

Importance: Productive people are key to sustained economic growth and national prosperity.

Empowerment

Definition: Empowerment means giving people the power and freedom to make choices and to act on those choices. It involves expanding people's freedoms and capabilities, allowing them to participate in decisions that affect their lives.

Dimensions of Empowerment:

• Political Empowerment: The freedom to participate in decision-making processes, to vote, to run for office, and to hold leaders accountable.
• Economic Empowerment: Access to resources, credit, and employment, enabling people to earn a living and improve their economic standing.
• Social Empowerment: Freedom from discrimination based on gender, caste, religion, or other factors, and access to education and healthcare.

Importance: Development is not just about economic growth or resource availability; it's about enabling people to have agency over their lives and participate fully in society.

Approaches To Human Development

Over time, various approaches have been used to define and measure human development, focusing on different aspects of well-being.

The Income Approach

Focus: Views human development as linked to income. The argument is that the level of income defines the range of choices available to people. Higher income implies greater freedom to access education, healthcare, and better living standards.

Measurement: Often measured by per capita income (GDP per capita or GNP per capita). Increased income is seen as a means to achieve development.

Limitations: This approach is criticized for being too narrow. It focuses solely on income as a means, ignoring other crucial aspects of development like health, education, human rights, and environmental quality. High income does not always guarantee high human development if resources are not equitably distributed or used for social well-being.

The Welfare Approach

Focus: Views people as passive recipients or beneficiaries of development activities. Development is seen as the provision of welfare services (like education, health, social security) by the government or other agencies.

Emphasis: Allocation of resources towards social services like education and health. The government plays a central role in providing these services.

Limitations: This approach also has limitations as it treats people as passive recipients rather than active participants in their own development. It doesn't fully account for people's choices and capabilities.

Minimum Needs Approach

Focus: Aims to ensure the provision of a basic minimum package of services to all people. It identifies a set of minimum basic needs required for a decent life.

Minimum Needs Included: Minimum consumption needs for health, education, drinking water, sanitation, housing, nutrition, and basic amenities.

Limitations: While important, this approach doesn't focus on people's capabilities or freedoms. It's more about providing a baseline provision of services rather than enabling people to achieve their full potential.

Capabilities Approach

Focus: Championed by Amartya Sen, this approach shifts the focus from resources (like income) or services (like education) to the actual capabilities and freedoms that people have. Development is seen as the expansion of people's real freedoms and capabilities to live lives they value.

Key Concepts:

• Functionings: The various things that people can 'do' or 'be' (e.g., being well-nourished, being healthy, being educated, participating in community life, being free from discrimination).
• Capabilities: The range of different functionings a person can achieve. It's about the real opportunities available to people to choose and achieve their desired functionings. For example, having access to a school is a resource, but being able to attend and learn is a capability.

Measurement: This approach is harder to quantify directly with a single indicator but provides a more holistic understanding of development, focusing on human agency and well-being.

Influence: This approach has significantly influenced the UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI), which attempts to measure capabilities in health, education, and living standards.

Measuring Human Development

Measuring human development involves assessing the progress made in expanding people's choices, capabilities, and well-being. Several indices and approaches are used for this purpose.

The Human Development Index (HDI)

Developed by: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Purpose: To measure a country's average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development:

1. A Long and Healthy Life: Measured by life expectancy at birth.
2. Knowledge: Measured by mean years of schooling (average number of years of education received by people aged 25 and above) and expected years of schooling (number of years of schooling expected for a child entering the education system).
3. A Decent Standard of Living: Measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (in Purchasing Power Parity dollars).

Calculation: The HDI is a composite index calculated by creating indices for each dimension and then combining them using a geometric mean. Countries are ranked based on their HDI scores, categorizing them into 'Very High', 'High', 'Medium', and 'Low' human development groups.

Significance: The HDI provides a broader perspective on development than income alone, highlighting that people's well-being depends on more than just economic prosperity.

The Human Poverty Index (HPI)

Developed by: The UNDP.

Purpose: To measure the proportion of a population that is "excluded" from the opportunities and choices normally afforded to its members, making them vulnerable to the forces of deprivation.

Dimensions Measured (for Developing Countries - HPI-1):

1. A Long and Healthy Life: Measured by the percentage of people expected to die before age 40.
2. Knowledge: Measured by the percentage of adults who are illiterate.
3. A Decent Standard of Living: Measured by the percentage of people without access to safe water and the percentage of children underweight for their age.

Significance: The HPI highlights the deprivation that exists even in countries with high HDI scores, showing that development achievements are not always universal within a country.

Gross National Happiness (GNH)

Origin: Developed and promoted by the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Focus: GNH is a philosophy that guides Bhutan's development process. It posits that true development occurs when spiritual, social, environmental, and material progress occur in harmony. It emphasizes the importance of the mind and spiritual well-being alongside material wealth.

Pillars of GNH: GNH is based on four main pillars:

1. Sustainable and equitable socio-economic development.
2. Environmental conservation.
3. Preservation and promotion of culture.
4. Good governance.

Measurement: Bhutan has developed a GNH index to measure progress based on surveys that assess various indicators across these pillars. While not a global standard like HDI, it represents an alternative perspective on development that prioritizes holistic well-being.

Significance: GNH offers a different paradigm for development, prioritizing human well-being and environmental sustainability over purely economic growth.

International Comparisons

Comparing human development across countries provides valuable insights into global disparities and patterns of progress. The UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI) is a primary tool for this comparison, categorizing countries into different levels of development.

Countries With Very High Human Development

HDI Score: Typically above 0.800.

Characteristics: These countries generally have high life expectancy, high levels of education (high mean and expected years of schooling), and high Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. They often have robust social welfare systems, advanced economies, and strong governance.

Examples: Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Sweden, Netherlands.

High Level Of Human Development Group

HDI Score: Typically between 0.700 and 0.799.

Characteristics: These countries have achieved significant progress in health, education, and income, but may still face challenges in certain areas or have disparities in access to opportunities.

Examples: United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Israel, Greece, Portugal.

Countries With Medium Levels Of Human Development

HDI Score: Typically between 0.550 and 0.699.

Characteristics: These countries are making progress in human development but face more significant challenges. They may have moderate life expectancy, lower educational attainment, and lower average incomes. Access to basic services can be uneven.

Examples: Many countries in South Asia (like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), Southeast Asia (like Indonesia, Philippines), Latin America (like Brazil, Mexico), and some parts of Eastern Europe and North Africa.

Low Levels Of Human Development

HDI Score: Typically below 0.550.

Characteristics: These countries face severe challenges across all dimensions of human development. They often have low life expectancy, very low levels of education, low GNI per capita, and significant poverty, conflict, or political instability.

Examples: Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan) and some countries in conflict zones or with political instability.

Note: These HDI ranges are approximate and can vary slightly in different UNDP reports. The key takeaway is the spectrum of development, highlighting the vast differences in human well-being across the globe and the ongoing efforts required to improve living standards and opportunities for all.