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F. A. Obi: Using the Human Development Index
Written by Fredrick Azubuike Obi, Director of Administration, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research
Thursday, July 10, 2003
Presented to Assembly 2003, “Global Governance at a Turning Point: Innovative Approaches to Peace in a Changing World, July 10-14, 2003
The political leadership of modern states has a primary objective of improving the quality of life of their people. This they attempt to realize through putting in place economic and social programs that will address the needs of their people. For developing economies, the objective is usually to improve living standards and have as many of their people as possible above and beyond the poverty line. For already developed economies, the political leadership endeavors to sustain the level of development already attained while striving to improve in those areas in which the Human Development Index (HDI) indicates a need for improvement. The issue of human development, therefore, is of critical concern since it can be perceived as a measure of how well the ship of state is steered in identifying and meeting the needs of its people. It is also an indication of the level of participation of the people in governance in terms of articulating their needs and in developing policies and programs for improved living standards.
Human Development and Human Development Index (HDI)
Human development is the process of enhancing the human capabilities to expand choices and opportunities such that each person can lead a life of respect and value. The choices are in the areas of:
(a) Leading a long and healthy life
(b) Acquisition of knowledge
(c) Access to the resources needed for a decent living standard
These three variables make up the composite HDI (Human Development Index). HDI is a measure of the average achievement of a country in these three basic dimensions, which are simple, objective, and quantifiable as follows:
(a) Standard of Living is measured by the purchasing power of the people based on GDP per capita adjusted to reflect the local cost of living and usually expressed in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP)
(b) Knowledge is a measure of a combination of adult literacy and combined primary, secondary and tertiary enrollment
(c) Longevity is life expectancy at birth
The Human Development Index is the average of these three basic dimensions of Human development.
Living Standard and the Concept of Human Poverty
One of the key elements of human development as already observed is the living standard of a people. One key objective of every political system has always been how to uplift and improve the living standard of its people. This cannot be fully appreciated without examining the concept of human poverty (not economic poverty per se) and strategies for alleviating it in order to achieve the objective of improving living standards. It is worthy of note that poverty is much more than lacking what is necessary for material well being. Although the HDI emphasizes the economic factor of GDP per capita in the measure of this parameter it also includes a lot more. Indeed, it is the denial of choices and opportunities that are most detrimental to human development. These are: (a) the opportunity to live a tolerable life materially, psychologically, politically, socially and culturally; and (b) the ability to make choices and use available opportunities. This provides a rational basis for the concept of human freedom that will be discussed later.
Deprivation in these two key areas will make life difficult, painful and could even shorten it. It should be noted that human poverty is in direct opposition to human development for, while human development focuses on advances of individuals and groups within a community, human poverty expresses the level of deprivation of individuals and groups within this same community. It is relative because the population that may be classified as poor in a developed economy would be regarded as being well-to-do materially in the least developed countries. Thus, growth will be achieved in human development if its antithesis, human poverty, experiences a decline.
It is also necessary to understand the depth and severity of poverty in order to appreciate the worsening condition of those already in poverty. Depth of poverty is the average distance below the poverty line. This also measures the poverty gap, that is, the average distance of a given population below the poverty line. Severity of poverty is the weighted average of the squared distance below the poverty line.
While the average is formed over the entire population and increases with poverty, the weights are given by each individual gap. These concepts derive from an attempt to establish the extent of poverty in the system.
Perhaps the understanding of poverty as a concept can better be appreciated from the perspective of sheer human deprivation, namely:
(a) Physiological Deprivation which from the income/ consumption approach refers to inadequate consumption of basic goods, primarily food and from the basic human needs approach seen as inadequate basic need fulfillment including nutrition, health, education, and so on. Note that there are about 1 billion people in the world living below poverty line on less than U.S. $1.00 a day.
(b) Social Deprivation comprising (from the human poverty perspective) the lack of expectation to live a long healthy life with freedom and from the social exclusion approach, the lack of resources required to participate in customary activities.
(c) Human Freedom Deprivation comprising the denial of rights and freedoms and seen from the participatory perspective the lack of dignity, self-respect, security, and justice.
The above presentation shows a multi-dimensional nature of poverty, making it possible to identify or differentiate the core needs that are begging for attention. More essentially this approach makes it possible for interventionists in poverty alleviation (state and non-state actors alike) to be able to isolate relevant indicators for each of the three typologies and to weave strategies around them that will improve living standards.
Knowledge/Educational Attainment
This is a combination of adult literacy and primary, secondary, and tertiary enrollments within a given population. It is inappropriate to restrict this discussion to quantities without stressing the importance of quality, relevance, and need in the educational system, vis-à-vis the objectives of national growth. Human development is inconceivable without a literate population that is capable of seeking information, making decisions, and expressing informed views.
The factor of relevance is also worthy of emphasis. Governments in developing economies wish to direct their educational policies towards achieving equal and adequate opportunities and promoting science and technology. They should also see the eradication of illiteracy as vital, not only for improved participation in social and political activities of the polity, but also as an essential requirement for the development of empowered, healthy, and informed members of the community. It has been shown, for example, in my country, Nigeria, which has an adult literacy rate of 55 percent that there is a steady decrease in the level of poverty as the level of education increases particularly the level of education of the head of the household. It is therefore to be expected that greater investment in education should yield broad economic benefits in the long run.
Human development is not possible without knowledge because it takes a combination of informed and active persons to improve the HDI of any community. We cannot talk of human rights and human freedom as requirements for human development where illiteracy is pervasive and on the increase and where unemployment is the rule rather than an exception and where large sections of the population are struggling for survival. It can therefore be said without equivocation that the power of the knowledge which quality education confers is the basis for human development. It makes the difference between economic prosperity and poverty and between longevity and a high mortality rate.
Longevity: A Measure of Life Expectancy and Human Development
The WHO target for life expectancy is more than 60 years. WHO also expects that nation states should aim at achieving below 70 per 1,000 live births for the under-five mortality rate and below 50 per 1,000 live births for infant mortality. Attainment of these minimum ratios is a confirmation of the existence of a health system that meets the minimum standard for human development. Poverty manifests itself in the deprivation in which people live on account of the absence of these prevailing minimum standards. Poverty would thus occur not only when material securities are denied but also when the opportunity to live a tolerable healthy life with dignity and self-respect is lacking. In Nigeria life expectancy is still very low, only 52 years. The infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births is 79, while the under-five mortality rate per 1,000 live births is 146.
Poor daily food and calorie intake, the absence or inadequate supply of potable water, poor sanitation, low energy supplies, and inadequate provision of basic health services including inadequate maternal and child care account for poor performance ratings in these parameters by developing economies. Gender disparity in access to educational and economic activities could explain the poor state of affairs with regards to maternal health and childcare. The patriarchal ordering of social relations and resultant male dominance accounts for a situation in some societies where the woman is confined to the domestic sphere with her economic activities largely limited.
Mention need also be made of the threat to life constituted by environmental pollution. Environmental pollution is referred to in this context as unregulated discharge of effluents and solid metals that pollute the air, our underground water supply, rivers, and lakes. The menace of huge dumps of solid waste and the hazards that they also constitute to the environment cannot be overemphasized. A policy of sustainable environment will not only ensure improvement in the living standard of the present generation, but will also ensure that in our exploitation of natural resources we are not unmindful of the needs of generations yet unborn.
Human Freedom and Human Development
It has been stated in the definition of Human development that its main objective is the enhancement of people’s choices and opportunities. This can be possible only where they enjoy freedom to pursue material and social goals. Human development is impossible without Human Freedom. The choices which freedom opens up to the individual as stated, for example, in the Human Development Report (HDR) of 1991 are as follows:
i) The Right to travel in own country, travel abroad, peacefully associate and assemble; teach ideas and receive information; monitor human rights violation and right to ethnic language.
ii) Freedom from forced or child labor; compulsory work permits; extrajudicial killings or disappearances; torture or coercion; capital punishment, unlawful detention; compulsory party or organization membership; compulsory religion or state ideology in schools; arts control; political censorship of press and censorship of mail or telephone tapping.
iii) The legal right to a nationality; being considered innocent until proved guilty; free legal aid when necessary and counsel of own choice; open trial, prompt trial; freedom from police searches of home without a warrant; freedom from arbitrary seizure of personal property.
iv) Freedom for peaceful political opposition; multiparty elections by secret and universal ballot; political and legal equality for women; social and economic equality for women; social and economic equality for ethnic minorities; independent newspapers and book publishing; independent radio and television networks; independent courts and independent trade unions.
v) The Personal Right to interracial, interreligious, or civil marriage; equality of sexes during marriage and in divorce proceedings; practice any religion; and determine the number of one’s children.
Although no precise measure has been derived for the Human Freedom Index (HFI), any society that cannot score high in the provision of choices and opportunities as listed can be said to be low in human freedom and therefore most likely to experience an uphill task in the quest for human development. This unfortunately is the bane of many developing countries. The Human Development Report (1992) established that countries that have high HDI countries with industrialized market economies also have a High Freedom Index. Countries with medium HDI tend to have medium HFI and those with low HDI have low H FI. Thus the link between freedom and development is no longer in dispute. Poverty alleviation and subsequent eradication will be impossible in an environment that lacks basic freedoms.
Strategies for Human Development
In defining and exploring the key parameters of human development, this paper has by implication outlined the challenges facing us as citizens of our various nation states and members of the world community now a global village thanks to rapid growth in technology and communication. Government and non-government actors alike have various roles that they can play to assist with human development. Our efforts should aim at achieving an enforceable political contract between the people and their governments; enhancing competitiveness, efficiency, and discipline in the factors of production; and addressing the problem of deprivation in education and health services. Essentially, the following broad strategies are recommended:
(a) Establishment of partnership between the people, government and non state actors, including NGOs, at the community level to address the problem of poverty. It is believed that the synergy that such partnership will generate will produce the required grassroots initiative in inventiveness and enterprise.
(b) Reduction in wastage of national resources through graft and other forms of corrupt practices and channeling the same for improved educational opportunities and the provision of quality and basic health services at the community level.
(c) Development of educational curricula that emphasize entrepreneurship, tolerance and understanding as members of multiracial religious and ethnic societies, and an educational curriculum that is based on science and technology.
(d) Embarking on job creation schemes; evolving economic policies and programs that will encourage and attract investments to ensure effective utilization of human and material resources.
(e) Concern for our environment and pursuit of sustainable development as a challenge to ensure a clean, healthy environment and proper resource utilization.
(f) Incorporation of human rights and elements of human freedom as listed in this presentation into the constitutions of nation states such that they would be rendered justifiable and therefore enforceable.
(g) Gradual but deliberate and sustained efforts at developing the political culture of liberal and multiparty democracy that would enhance mutual respect and peaceful coexistence amongst peoples.
(h) Taking appropriate advantage of globalization in terms of the opportunities that it offers in the areas of technology and technological transfer, information dissemination, and regional cooperation in the alleviation of human poverty in our societies.
Conclusion
From the foregoing discussion, it is safe to conclude that human development is the cure for poverty. Human development will ensure that people of all nations acquire knowledge, have access to the resources that they need for a decent standard of living, enjoy self-respect and guaranteed rights, and lead long and healthy lives. The emphasis here is on the individual person living in our urban and rural communities. Our human development efforts as people in government and non-state actors will ensure that people live in real comfort and tolerance and will enhance opportunities for world peace and understanding. People of different races and religions will be able to live side by side in municipalities without suspicion. Human development is inherently linked to good governance. The pursuit of the objective of human development as a critical element in any national strategic development plan is recommended because of the overwhelmingly positive impact it would have on national development and on the lives of our people.
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