The 2023/2024 Human Development Report has now been published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The main derivative of the Human Development Report is the Human Development Index (HDI) which is a composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development—a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living.
The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.
As per HDI per se countries are divided into four categories - (1) Very High Human Development; (2) High Human Development; (3) Medium Human Development; and (4) Low Human Development.
HDI classifications are based on HDI fixed cutoff points, which are derived from the quartiles of distributions of the component indicators. The cutoff points are HDI of less than 0.550 for low human development, 0.550–0.699 for medium human development, 0.700–0.799 for high human development and 0.800 or greater for very high human development.
HDI South Asia Countries
South Asian countries do not figure in the first category of very high human development. Sri Lanka and the Maldives are two countries that are categorised under High Human Development [0.700–0.799] while India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar are under Medium Human Development [0.550–0.699].
Pakistan and Afghanistan are under the low human development category.[Below0.550.
Low ranking indicates a higher level of HDI for the country.
Thus, during the year 2022 on which the data for the HDI rank is based, Sri Lanka has come down by two ranks from 78 to 76, Maldives has improved by one rank from 88 to 87.
Bhutan retains the same rank at 125, Bangladesh and India improve by one rank each that is 130 to 129 and from 135 to 134 respectively.
Nepal has seen the maximum improvement in ranking in South Asia from 149 to 146
Pakistan has seen an improvement by one rank from 165 to 164 while Afghanistan has deteriorated from 181 to 182.
Brief Analysis
South Asian countries which has included Myanmar as well have seen only marginal progress in the Human Development Index given the low base from which to start and lack of impetus to sustainable development goals particularly in terms of life expectancy at birth and education.
This contrasts with the factors of high economic growth in India and Bangladesh for instance and the fact that these countries less Myanmar and Afghanistan are democracies, thus human development of the masses should be the primary approach of the government who face multiple elections each year.
Large stock of underdeveloped mass is one factor for instance in India that is evident which despite being the fifth largest economy in the World continues to be a laggard in terms of human development falling in the medium category.
While poor governance and even lack of formal governance structures as in Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively may have contributed to the limited progress in these countries.
Contrasting this with Maldives and Sri Lanka which have been consistently in the High Human Development bracket with smaller populations could be a factor. At the same time, economic independence is not reflected in the Human Development as both countries are facing a huge challenge of debt dependency, thus evidently high HDI does not guarantee economic security where other factors come into play.
Definitions
Human Development Index (HDI): A composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development—a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living.
Life expectancy at birth: Number of years a newborn infant could expect to live if prevailing patterns of age-specific mortality rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the infant’s life.
Expected years of schooling: Number of years of schooling that a child of school entrance age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrolment rates persist throughout the child’s life.
Mean years of schooling: Average number of years of education received by people ages 25 and older, converted from education attainment levels using official durations of each level.
Gross national income (GNI) per capita: Aggregate income of an economy generated by its production and its ownership of factors of production, less the incomes paid for the use of factors of production owned by the rest of the world, converted to international dollars using PPP rates, divided by midyear population.
GNI per capita rank minus HDI rank: Difference in ranking by GNI per capita and by HDI value. A negative value means that the country is better ranked by GNI than by HDI value.
HDI rank for 2021: Ranking by HDI value for 2021, calculated using the same most recently revised data available in 2023 that were used to calculate HDI values for 2021.