Key Points

Growth is a quantitative change that can be positive or negative, like a change in population size. Development is a qualitative change that is always positive and involves an improvement in conditions, such as better housing or services.

Introduced by Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq in 1990, human development is defined as a process of enlarging people's choices and improving their lives so they can live meaningful lives.

Nobel Laureate Prof. Amartya Sen viewed the main objective of development as an increase in freedom, or the removal of unfreedom. Increasing freedoms is one of the most effective ways to bring about development.

The three most important aspects of human development are leading a long and healthy life, being able to gain knowledge, and having enough means to live a decent life.

The idea of human development is supported by four main concepts: Equity, Sustainability, Productivity, and Empowerment.

Equity refers to making equal access to opportunities available to everybody, irrespective of their gender, race, income, or caste.

Sustainability means ensuring the continuity of opportunities, so that each generation has the same opportunities as the ones before it by using resources mindfully.

Productivity refers to human labor productivity. It must be constantly enriched by building capabilities in people through better health and education.

Empowerment means having the power to make choices. This power comes from increasing freedom and capability, often supported by good governance and people-oriented policies.

There are four major approaches to human development: the Income Approach, Welfare Approach, Basic Needs Approach, and the Capability Approach.

Associated with Prof. Amartya Sen, this approach emphasizes that building human capabilities in health, education, and access to resources is the key to increasing human development.

The Human Development Index (HDI) ranks countries based on a score between 0 and 1, reflecting their performance in the key areas of health, education, and access to resources.

Health is measured by life expectancy at birth. Education is measured by adult literacy and gross enrolment ratio. Access to resources is measured by purchasing power in U.S. dollars.

The HPI is a non-income measure that shows the shortfall in human development. It considers factors like not surviving to age 40, adult illiteracy, and lack of access to clean water.

Bhutan is the only country to officially use Gross National Happiness as its measure of progress. It prioritizes spiritual, non-material, and qualitative aspects of development over pure economic growth.

International comparisons show that the size of a country or its per capita income is not directly related to its level of human development. Smaller and poorer nations can have a higher HDI than larger, richer ones.

Countries are classified into four groups based on their HDI scores: Very High (above 0.800), High (0.700 to 0.799), Medium (0.550 to 0.699), and Low (below 0.550).

Countries with high human development typically invest heavily in their social sectors like education and healthcare. They are generally politically stable and have good governance.

Countries with low levels of human development often spend more on defense than social sectors. They tend to be located in areas of political instability, civil war, or high incidence of disease.

According to the 2022 data, India's HDI value was 0.644, placing it in the medium human development category with a rank of 134 out of 193 countries.