Human

Human development indicators

The state of human development

“The basic objective of development”, wrote Mahbub ul Haq in the first Human Development Report in 1990, “is to create an enabling environment in which people can enjoy long, healthy and creative lives.” Sixteen years on, that vision retains a powerful resonance. People are the real wealth of nations. That simple truth is sometimes forgotten. Mesmerized by the rise and fall of national incomes (as measured by GDP), we tend to equate human welfare with material wealth. The importance of GDP growth and economic stability should not be understated: both are fundamental to sustained human progress, as is clear in the many countries that suffer from their absence. But the ultimate yardstick for measuring progress is people’s quality of life. As Aristotle argued, “Wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else.”1 That “something else” is the opportunity of people to realize their potential as human beings. Real opportunity is about having real choices—the choices that come with a sufficient income, an education, good health and living in a country that is not governed by tyranny. As Amartya Sen has written: “Development can be seen… as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy.”2 Over the past decades there have been unprecedented increases in material wealth and prosperity across the world. At the same time these increases have been very uneven, with vast numbers of people not participating in progress. Mass poverty, deeply entrenched inequality and lack of political empowerment contribute to deny a large share of the world’s population the freedom to make real choices. Moreover, GDP is still measured in a way that does not take into account environmental degradation and the depletion of natural resources.

The human development index

Each year since 1990 this report has published a human development index (HDI) that looks beyond...