SALIENT FEATURES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT: 2010

Transcription

1 SALIENT FEATURES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT: 2010 ( The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development is the caption of this 20 th anniversary report) Factors that determined the HDI ranking include 1. Empowerment 2. Inequality 3. Education 4. Health 5. Demographic trends 6. Civic and community well being. The three new indices taken in the 20 th anniversary report are: 1. Inequality adjustment HDI 2. Gender inequality index 3. Multi-dimensional poverty index. *The Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) adjusts the Human Development Index (HDI) for inequality in distribution of each dimension across the population. The IHDI accounts for inequalities in HDI dimensions by discounting each dimension s average value according to its level of inequality. The IHDI equals the HDI when there is no inequality across people but is less than the HDI as inequality rises. In this sense, the IHDI is the actual level of human development (accounting for this inequality), while the HDI can be viewed as an index of potential human development (or the maximum level of HDI) that could be achieved if there was no inequality. The loss in potential human development due to inequality is given by the difference between the HDI and the IHDI and can be expressed as a percentage. * The Gender Inequality Index (GII) reflects women s disadvantage in three dimensions reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market for as many countries as data of reasonable quality allow. The index shows the loss in human development due to inequality between female and male achievements in these dimensions. It ranges from 0, which indicates that women and men fare equally, to 1, which indicates that women fare as poorly as possible in all measured dimensions. 1

2 * The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) identifies multiple deprivations at the individual level in health, education and standard of living. It uses micro data from household surveys, and unlike the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index all the indicators needed to construct the measure must come from the same survey. Each person in a given household is classified as poor or non-poor depending on the number of deprivations his or her household experiences. These data are then aggregated into the national measure of poverty. India s status th rank among 169 countries (0.519 HDI, Inequality is not factored in, Poor social infrastructure, in areas of education and health, has ensured that India secures a low 119 th rank). 2. India s position in the index has improved by one position on the basis of a five-year comparison since India s position is below China (89 th ) and Sri Lanka (91 st ). 4. India has secured the 10 th position as far as improvement in the income index was concerned but it lagged behind neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan in education and health sector nd rank among 138 countries ( Inequality factored in, based on 2008 data- with nine percent of the parliamentary seats held by women, and 27 percent of adult women having secondary or higher levels of education compared to 50 percent among men ). 6. When inequality is factored in, India s HDI value would see a loss of 30 percent. 7. Bangladesh and Pakistan are ranked at 116 th and 112 nd positions respectively, indicating that these nations are better in gender equality than India. 8. Based on Multidimensional poverty index, the report says that 8 Indian states (Which includes the BIMARU states) have more poverty at 421 million, than 26 poorest African countries combined who have 410 million poverty affected people. 9. In Delhi, the rate is close to Iraq and Vietnam s (14%). 10. That of Bihar is similar to Sierra Leon and Guinea s (81%). 2

3 Status of other countries (Inequality not factored in) Norway has topped the list (0.938 HDI) Australia comes second (0.937 HDI) New Zealand ranks third (0.907 HDI) US is 4 th (0.902 HDI) Japan 11 th (0.884 HDI) South Korea is 12 th (0.877 HDI) Iran is 70 th (0.702) China is 89 th (0.668) Sri Lanka,91 st (0.658) Pakistan, 125 th (0.49) Bangladesh, 129 th (0.469) Myanmar, 132 nd (0.451) Nepal, 138 th (0.428) Afghanistan, 155 th (0.349) In South Asia, Iran fares the best (70); Sri Lanka (91), Maldives (107), India (119) and Pakistan (125) are in the middle HDI countries, whereas Bangladesh (129), Nepal (138) and Afghanistan (155) are among low HDI countries. Data are not available for Bhutan As per the current measure of HDI done for 169 countries, the top ten are Norway, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland, Lichtenstein, the Netherlands, Canada, Sweden and Germany and the bottom ten are Mali, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Burundi, Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe. IHDI (Inequality adjusted HDI) has been applied to 139 countries and the average loss in HDI is 22 per cent (See the below figure for regional variations) 3

4 GII, calculated for 138 countries, also varies across regions and dimensions, but the largest contributor to loss is reproductive health. (See the below figure for loss on account of lower empowerment to females, it is relatively higher for South Asia and Arab states) 4

5 MPI has been calculated for 104 developing countries using data from household surveys. This has also some other measures used in HDR 2010 has already been discussed in some Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) papers. 5

6 Findings of analysis of long term trend using data since 1970: (135 countries, complete and comparable data was available for health, education and income) 1. Asian countries lead development progress over 40 years. 2. East Asia and Pacific had by far the strongest overall HDI performance of any region in the world, nearly doubling in average HDI attainment over the past 40 years. 3. Life expectancy in East Asia and the Pacific climbed to an average of 73 years in 2010 from 59 in In South Asia, life expectancy is now estimated at 65 years, compared to 49 in

7 5. Over the past 40 years, life expectancy increased by 23 years in Bangladesh, 18 years in Iran, 16 years in India and 10 years in Afghanistan. 6. One big factor in this change is the gradual improvement in South Asia s infant and child mortality rates, which now stand at 56 and 73 per 1000 live births. However, Afghanistan has the region s highest infant and under-five mortality rate at 165 and 257 per 1000 live births. 7. In education, literacy in South Asia increased to 66% in 2010 from 31% in However, the global average for the 135 countries assessed in the HDI trends analysis for 2010 was 83%. In East Asia and the Pacific, the region s literacy rates rose to 94 in 2010 compared to 53% in China, Nepal, Indonesia, Lao PDR and South Korea making to the report s Top 10 Movers list. 9. The top mover is Oman that invested heavily in education and public health. The next nine movers are China, Nepal, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Laos, Tunisia, South Korea, Algeria and Morocco. Incidentally, China is the only one that made the gains because of income as they had earlier made investments in education and public health. Some of the important low-income but substantial gainers are Ethiopia, Cambodia and Benin. 10. Nepal ranks 2 nd among top 10 movers in GDP growth and 3 rd among 135 countries (A child born today in Nepal can expect to live 25 years longer than a child born in 1970; more than four of every five children of school age in Nepal now attend primary school, compared to just one in five 40 years ago). 11. China is the 2 nd highest achiever in the world in HDI improvement since 1970 (Only country on the top 10 movers list due to income rather than health or education 7

8 achievement, China s per capita income increased a stunning 21 times over last four decades, lifting hundreds of millions out of income poverty. Yet it was not the region s top performer in improving school enrolment and life expectancy). 12. When comparing HD trends over past two decades, Bangladesh and Cambodia have been the best performers in Asia. 8