Big picture
A country's economy can grow while many of its people remain poor, unhealthy or uneducated. Human development shifts the focus from income alone to people's lives: whether they can live long and healthy lives, be educated, and have the resources and freedom to make meaningful choices.
This chapter explains the concept, the principles behind it, the different approaches, and how the Human Development Index (HDI) measures it.
Learning goals
Distinguish growth from development.
Explain the concept of human development and its proponents.
Explain the four pillars of human development.
Explain the income, welfare, basic needs and capability approaches.
Explain how the HDI is calculated and how countries are categorised.
Explain related measures and international comparisons.
Core ideas
1. Growth and development
Growth | Development |
|---|---|
Quantitative change, such as an increase in GDP or income | Qualitative and positive change in people's lives |
Value-neutral: it can be positive (increase) or negative (decrease) | Always positive; it occurs only when there is positive growth that improves life |
Measured by income and output | Measured by improvements in health, education, living standards and freedom |
Growth is necessary but not sufficient for development: a region can grow without its people benefiting.
2. The concept of human development
The concept was introduced by Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq, a Pakistani economist, who described human development as development that enlarges people's choices and improves their lives. People are at the centre of all development.
Prof. Amartya Sen, the Indian Nobel laureate economist, saw human development as increasing freedoms (or decreasing unfreedom); his capability approach emphasises building human capabilities in health, education and access to resources.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) began publishing the Human Development Report annually from 1990, based on these ideas.
3. The four pillars of human development
Pillar | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
Equity | Equal access to opportunities for everyone, irrespective of gender, race, income or caste | Girls from poor families should have the same chance to attend school as boys from rich families |
Sustainability | Continuity in the availability of opportunities; each generation must have the same opportunities, so resources must be used carefully | Not overusing groundwater or forests, so future generations aren't deprived |
Productivity | Human labour productivity, enriched by building people's capabilities (health, education, skills) | A healthy, educated workforce produces more |
Empowerment | Having the power to make choices; it comes from increasing freedom and capability, supported by good governance and people-oriented policies | Self-help groups enabling women to take decisions |
4. Approaches to human development
Approach | Main idea |
|---|---|
Income approach | One of the oldest: human development is linked to income; a higher income means a higher level of development |
Welfare approach | People are beneficiaries; the government should spend heavily on education, health, social security and amenities, so welfare improves. People are passive recipients |
Basic needs approach | Proposed by the International Labour Organization (ILO); focuses on providing six basic needs: health, education, food, water supply, sanitation and housing. The question of human choices is ignored |
Capability approach | Associated with Amartya Sen: building human capabilities in health, education and access to resources is the key to human development |
5. Measuring human development: the HDI
The Human Development Index (HDI) ranks countries on their performance in three key dimensions:
Dimension | Indicator |
|---|---|
A long and healthy life (health) | Life expectancy at birth |
Access to knowledge (education) | Mean years of schooling (for adults) and expected years of schooling (for children) |
A decent standard of living (access to resources) | Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) |
Each dimension is given equal weight (one-third). The HDI is a score between 0 and 1: the closer to 1, the higher the human development.
(Earlier reports used adult literacy and gross enrolment ratio for education, and purchasing power in US dollars for income.)
Categories of human development:
Category | HDI score |
|---|---|
Very high | 0.800 and above |
High | 0.700 to 0.799 |
Medium | 0.550 to 0.699 |
Low | Below 0.550 |
India falls in the medium human development category.
6. Related measures
The Human Poverty Index (introduced in 1997) measured the shortfall in human development; it was later replaced by the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which measures deprivation in health, education and living standards at the household level.
Gross National Happiness (GNH): Bhutan measures progress by its people's happiness and well-being, emphasising spiritual, cultural and environmental values alongside material progress, instead of GDP alone.
7. International comparisons
Countries with very high human development, such as Norway and Switzerland, invest heavily in social sectors and have good governance.
Small countries have often done better than large ones, and some countries with relatively modest incomes achieve high human development through investment in health and education, while some rich countries perform less well.
Countries with low human development often face political turmoil, civil war, famine or high disease rates.
Thus, income alone doesn't determine human development; social spending, equity and governance matter.
A reliable approach to questions
Distinguish growth and development clearly.
Name Mahbub-ul-Haq and Amartya Sen and their contributions.
Explain each pillar with an example.
Compare the four approaches, especially welfare, basic needs and capability.
Give the HDI's three dimensions, indicators and categories.
Connections that matter
World population and India: population explain the demographic background.
Economics: human capital formation relates education and health to development.
Planning and sustainable development connects with the sustainability pillar.
Common mistakes
Treating growth and development as the same.
Saying the HDI measures only income. It combines health, education and income.
Crediting the basic needs approach to Amartya Sen. It was proposed by the ILO; Sen is linked with the capability approach.
Saying an HDI of 0.6 is "high". It falls in the medium category.
Revision checklist
I can distinguish growth and development.
I can explain the concept of human development and its four pillars.
I can compare the four approaches.
I can explain the HDI's dimensions, indicators and categories.
I can explain the MPI, GNH and international comparisons.