Thursday, November 4, 2010
UNDP releases 2010 Human Development Report
Today the United Nations Development Programme launched the 2010 Human Development Report including the 2010 Human Development Index. This report, and those before it, are meant to emphasize that "development is primarily and fundamentally about people". The 2010 report states that many people today are healthier, live longer, are better educated and have better access to goods and services, even in countries facing adverse economic conditions. However, there is still growing inequality and unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and several regions of the world have regressed in areas such as health. This report issues three new measures to the Human Development Index: the Inequality-adjusted HDI; the Gender Inequality Index; and the Multidimensional Poverty Index. These are designed to stimulate public debate beyond the traditional discussions of aggregates. Once again countries such as Norway, Australia and the US top the list while African countries such as Zimbabwe, Congo and Niger are at the bottom. How much do these rankings reflect the economic systems and policies of each country? Do you feel that these factors play a large role in something such as human development?
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2 comments:
Mostly what I've been reading lately is that the percentage of people below the poverty line isn't reducing, meaning that we don't know how to sustain economic growth/increase in welfare that is more rapid than population growth. I think that economic systems have something to do with it, but I also think that a lot of a country's development depends on it's starting point. Underdeveloped countries have a harder time entering the global market than developed countries did because the competition is so much stronger now. Many countries require internal development but are constantly under international pressures to "open." In many cases this brings money into the country leading to unstable growth that often times crashes severely on what could even be the smallest scare.
These numbers are also a sad reflection on the progress of the Millennium Development Goals, which are targeted at improving these stats. Clearly we need a larger push from developed nations who enjoy the life lived at the top of this list
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