Both growth and development refer to changes over a period of time, but they differ significantly in their nature and value orientation.
The concept of human development was introduced by Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq and further expanded by Nobel Laureate Prof. Amartya Sen in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Human development is supported by four fundamental concepts, which act as its pillars:
Refers to making equal access to opportunities available to everybody, irrespective of gender, race, income, and caste.
Means continuity in the availability of opportunities. Each generation must have the same opportunities, requiring the responsible use of environmental, financial, and human resources to avoid limiting future generations.
Refers to human labour productivity or productivity in terms of human work. This must be constantly enriched by building capabilities in people through education and health facilities.
Means to have the power to make choices. This power comes from increasing freedom, capability, good governance, and people-oriented policies.
There are several historical and contemporary approaches to understanding and addressing human development:
| Approach | Key Features |
|---|---|
| Income Approach | One of the oldest approaches. Links human development directly to income, assuming higher income reflects higher freedom and development. |
| Welfare Approach | Views human beings as beneficiaries or targets of development. Advocates for high government expenditure on education, health, and social amenities. People are passive recipients. |
| Basic Needs Approach | Proposed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Emphasizes the provision of six basic needs: health, education, food, water supply, sanitation, and housing. Ignores the question of human choices. |
| Capability Approach | Associated with Prof. Amartya Sen. Focuses on building human capabilities in health, education, and resource access as the key to increasing human development. |
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has published the Human Development Report annually since 1990, utilizing key indices to measure progress.
Ranks countries based on their performance across three key areas, with each dimension given an equal weightage:
The HDI score ranges between 0 and 1. The closer a score is to 1, the greater the level of human development.
A non-income measure that estimates the shortfall in human development. It considers factors such as the probability of not surviving till age 40, adult illiteracy rate, lack of access to clean water, and the number of underweight children.
International comparisons show that the size of a territory and per capita income are not directly related to human development. Smaller or poorer nations often perform better than their larger or richer neighbors.
Countries are classified into four groups based on their HDI scores:
| Level of Human Development | Score in Development Index | Number of Countries |
|---|---|---|
| Very High | above 0.800 | 69 |
| High | between 0.700 up to 0.799 | 49 |
| Medium | between 0.550 up to 0.699 | 42 |
| Low | below 0.550 | 33 |
Source: Human Development Report, 2023-24
| Rank | Country | Rank | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | 7 | Germany |
| 2 | Norway | 7 | Ireland |
| 3 | Iceland | 9 | Singapore |
| 4 | Hongkong, China (SAR) | 10 | Australia |
| 5 | Denmark | 10 | Netherlands |
| 5 | Sweden | - | - |
Bhutan is the only country in the world to officially proclaim Gross National Happiness (GNH) as the measure of its progress, emphasizing spiritual, non-material, and qualitative aspects of development alongside environmental conservation.