UNDP Human Development

Human Development Report 2010. The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development. The 2010 HDR asserts that the past 20 years have seen substantial progress in many aspects of human development. Yet they have also seen increasing inequality and production and consumption patterns that have increasingly been revealed as unsustainable. Addressing these issues requires new tools. Thus, the Report introduces three new indices—the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the Gender Inequality Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index

Looking beyond 2010, this Report surveys critical aspects of human development, from political freedoms and empowerment to sustainability and human security, and outlines a broader agenda for research and policies to respond to these challenges.

Most people today are healthier, live longer, are more educated and have more access to goods and services. Even in countries facing adverse economic conditions, people’s health and education have greatly improved. Yet not all sides of the story are positive. These years have also seen increasing inequality— both within and across countries— as well as production and consumption patterns that have increasingly been revealed as unsustainable. Progress has varied, and people in some regions have experienced periods of regress, especially in health. New vulnerabilities require innovative public policies to confront risk and inequalities while harnessing dynamic market forces for the benefit of all. Addressing these issues requires new tools. This Report introduces three measures to the Report family of indices—the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the Gender Inequality Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index. These state-of-the-art measures incorporate recent advances in theory and measurement and support the centrality of inequality and poverty in the human development framework. This experimental series are introduced with the intention of stimulating reasoned public debate beyond the traditional focus on aggregates. Many challenges lie ahead. Some are related to policy: development policies must be based on the local context and sound overarching principles; numerous problems go beyond the capacity of individual states and require democratically accountable global institutions. There are also implications for research: deeper analysis of the surprisingly weak relationship between economic growth and improvements in health and education and careful consideration of how the multidimensionality of development objectives affects development thinking are just two examples.

The 2010 Human Development Report fixes human development firmly on the agenda of policy makers who seek the best outcomes from increasingly complex patterns of human movement worldwide.

The report includes a large collection of statistical reports and data sets, including the annual Human Development Index.

Download directly from the UNDP website here or in French here

Visit the UNDP Humand Development Report website here.

Or, if the urls do not respond, download the pdf of the full report here or of the French version here.

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Human Development Report 2009. Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development. The 2009 HDR asserts that the enormous social inequality that prevails in the world makes moving away from their home town or village –and frequently to other countries– the best—and sometimes the only— option open to improve their life chances for millions of people around the world.

When people move they embark on a journey of hope and uncertainty, whether within or across international borders. Most people move in search of better opportunities, hoping to combine their own talents with resources in the destination country so as to benefit themselves and their immediate family, who often accompany or follow them. Local communities and societies as a whole have also benefited, both in places of origin and at destinations. The diversity of these individuals and the rules that govern their movement make human mobility one of the most complex issues facing the world today, especially in the midst of the global recession.

Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development explores how better policies towards mobility can enhance human development. It first traces the contours of human movement—who moves where, when and why—before analysing the wide-ranging impacts of movement on migrants and their families and on places of origin and destination. It lays out the case for governments to reduce restrictions on movement within and across their borders, so as to expand human choices and freedoms. It argues for practical measures that can improve prospects on arrival, which in turn will have large benefits both for destination communities and for places of origin. The reforms speak not only to destination governments but also to governments of origin, to other key actors—in particular the private sector, unions and non-governmental organizations—and to individual migrants themselves.

The 2009 Human Development Report fixes human development firmly on the agenda of policy makers who seek the best outcomes from increasingly complex patterns of human movement worldwide.

The report includes a large collection of statistical reports and data sets, including the annual Human Development Index.

Download directly from the UNDP website here or in French here

Visit the UNDP Humand Development Report website here.

Or, if the urls do not respond, download the pdf of the full report here or of the French version here.

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Human Development Report 2007/2008. Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity In A Divided World. The HDR 2007/08 Says that Climate Change Threatens with Setbacks in Human Development Without Precedent in the Reduction of Poverty, Nutrition, Health and Education

What we do today about climate change has consequences that will last a century or more. The part of that change that is due to greenhouse gas emissions is not reversible in the foreseeable future. The heat trapping gases we send into the atmosphere in 2008 will stay there until 2108 and beyond. We are therefore making choices today that will affect our own lives, but even more so the lives of our children and grandchildren. This makes climate change different and more difficult than other policy challenges

For those willing to listen instead of putting deaf ears, the prognosis and the call of Kemal Dervi and Achim Steiner, the people responsible for the HDR 2007/08 will not surprise them, for they are already conscientious and they are taking action accordingly. For those refusing to accept the evident environmental decay, will suffer anyway the same consequences, few or many, for the planet does not make distinctions between conscientious people and their antipodes. Thus, they have nothing to lose by acknowledging what surely will occur to all in some measure; and instead, if they get involved, we will all have much to gain.

The United Nations Human Development Programme officers confirm to us that climate change is now a scientifically established fact. The exact impact of greenhouse gas emission is not easy to forecast and there is a lot of uncertainty in the science when it comes to predictive capability. But we now know enough to recognise that there are large risks, potentially catastrophic ones, including the melting of ice-sheets in Greenland and the West Antarctic (which would place many countries under water) and changes in the course of the Gulf Stream that would bring about drastic climatic changes.

Hence, Dervi and Steiner argue that prudence and care about the future of our children and their children requires that we act now. This is a form of insurance against possibly very large losses. The fact that we do not know the probability of such losses or their likely exact timing is not a valid argument. We know the danger exists. We know the damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions is irreversible for a long time. We know it is growing with every day of inaction. For these reasons, and for a basic instinct of survival, we all have to act, changing our consumer habits and lifestyles in a rather significant manner.

The report includes a large collection of statistical reports and data sets, including the annual Human Development Index.

Download directly from the UNDP website here or in French here

Visit the UNDP Humand Development Report website here.

Or, if the urls do not respond, download the pdf of the full report here or of the French version here.

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The Human Development Report 2006 says that World water and sanitation crisis urgently needs a Global Action Plan and not more lack of concerted international action, where this silent emergency, like famine, is tolerated by those with the resources, the technology and the political power to end it

The 2006 Human Development Report, released in November, asserts that a Global Action Plan under G8 leadership is urgently needed to resolve a growing water and sanitation crisis that causes nearly two million child deaths every year. Across much of the developing world, unclean water is an immeasurably greater threat to human security than violent conflict, according to the Report, entitled Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. With less than a decade left to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, this needs to change, stress the authors. The report calls for 20 litres of clean water a day for all as a human right and to spend 1% of GDP in water an sanitation.

Kevin Watkins, lead author of the 2006 Human Development Report elaborates: "National governments need to draw up credible plans and strategies for tackling the crisis in water and sanitation. But we also need a Global Action Plan-with active buy-in from the G8 countries-to focus fragmented international efforts to mobilize resources and galvanize political action by putting water and sanitation front and centre on the development agenda.

Kemal Dervi_, UNDP Administrator explains that each one of the eight Millennium Development Goals is inextricably tied to the next, so if we fail on the water and sanitation goal, hope of reaching the other seven rapidly fades. "Either we take concerted action now to bring clean water and sanitation to the world's poor, or we consign millions of people to lives of avoidable poverty, poor health and diminished opportunities, and perpetuate deep inequalities within and between countries. And we have a collective responsibility to succeed."

Governments should spend 1% GDP on water and sanitation
The HDR 2006 recommends that in addition to creating a Global Action Plan, the following three foundations are crucial for success:

Make water a human right-and mean it: Everyone should have at least 20 litres of clean water per day and the poor should get it for free,
Draw up national strategies for water and sanitation: Governments should aim to spend a minimum of one percent GDP on water and sanitation, and enhance equity. Water and sanitation suffer from chronic under-funding. Public spending is typically less than 0.5 percent of GDP,
Increased international aid: The Report calls for an extra US$3.4 billion to $4 billion annually: Development assistance has fallen in real terms over the past decade, but to bring the MDG on water and sanitation into reach, aid flows will have to double, says the Report. Progress in water and sanitation requires large upfront investments with a very long payback period, so innovative financing strategies are essential. This would be money well-spent, for the economic return in saved time, increased productivity and reduced health costs.

To be sure, accomplishing these fundamental goals is all a matter of political will among those in power globally, especially the G8. If they have the will, the achievement would mean a lot to, literally, billions of people.

What could progress mean for the poor?
The 2006 HDR estimates the total additional cost of achieving the MDG on access to water and sanitation-to be sourced domestically and internationally-at about $10 billion a year. "It represents less than five days' worth of global military spending and less than half what rich countries spend each year on mineral water," says the Report. The human-development gains would be immense. Closing the gap between current trends and the MDG target on water and sanitation would save more than one million children's lives over the next decade and bring total economic benefits of about $38 billion annually. Can the world afford not to make the investments?"

Cost of the crisis
Delivering clean water, removing waste water, and providing sanitation are three of the most basic foundations for human progress. Yet, 1.1 billion people do not have access to water, and 2.6 billion do not have access to sanitation. The Report adds: "Not having access to clean water' is a euphemism for profound deprivation. And the poorer you are, the more you pay for clean water. This signals a strong two-way relationship between income poverty and deprivation in access to water. And the public-versus-private debate on water is not helping the poor, argues the 2006 HDR. Indeed, albeit that debate is barely covered in this report, it is always the poor who lose in any debate where "marketocracy" -where the market instead of real democracy is the ultimate end- takes place.

Beyond the household
The poor need 'water for life, says the Report. Yet poor farmers face a potentially catastrophic water crisis from the combination of climate change and competition for scarce water resources. The great majority of the world's malnourished people-estimated now at 830 million-are small farmers, herders, and farm labourers. Climate change threatens to intensify their water insecurity on an unparalleled scale. At the same time, competition over water to produce food is escalating at an alarming rate in developing countries, with political and economic power, not concern for poverty, acting as the driving force, says the Report.

History shows the crisis can be fixed
By the end of the 19th century, governments recognized that the diseases associated with water and sanitation could not be contained in the cities' poor tenements; it was in the greater public's interest to take action. This change reflected a rare instance in history where a major social ill was successfully resolved. And it could happen again, says the 2006 HDR: "Resolving the water and sanitation crisis could be the next great leap forward for mankind," says Watkins. "We urgently need history to repeat itself-this time in developing countries."

The report includes a large collection of statistical reports and data sets, including the annual Human Development Index.

Download the pdf of the full report here or of the French version here.

or download directly from the UNDP website here or in French here .

Visit the UNDP Human Development Report website here.

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Human Development Report 2005 Says Time is Running Out!

The Report calls for swift and dramatic changes in global aid, trade and security policies to fulfil the promises made five years ago by the international community to address these problems. "The world has the knowledge, resources and technology to end extreme poverty, but time is running out".

The Report was delivered to world leaders through the missions of the 191 member states of the United Nations in preparation for the 2005 World Summit, which will be the largest-ever gathering of heads of state and government. The Summit will be assessing progress and recommending further action toward achieving the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), which originated in the Millennium Declaration, unanimously adopted by world leaders at the Millennium Summit at the UN in 2000.

The MDGs include pledges to halve extreme poverty, reduce child deaths by two-thirds, and achieve universal primary education by 2015. Nonetheless, the report clearly states that under current trends the promises of the Millennium Declaration will not be kept. A surprise to few given the deplorable state of world affairs.

The human development record of the 1990s:

PROGRESS:

130 million people lifted out of extreme poverty
2 million fewer child deaths a year
30 million more children in school
1.2 billion people gained access to clean water

DOWNSIDE:

2.5 billion still live on less than $2 a day; poverty reduction slowed in the 1990s
10 million preventable child deaths every year
115 million children still out of school
More than one billion people still have no access to safe water; 2.6 billion lack access to sanitation
18 countries moved backwards in the Human Development Index, a compendium of key indicators such as income, education and life expectancy

The 2005 Human Development Report argues that extreme inequality is a brake on progress towards the MDGs and wider human development goals. The Report spotlights the scale of the international wealth divide: The poorest 40 percent of the world's population--2.5 billion people, living on less than $2 a day--account for just five percent of all global income. A very illustrative example in the report is the fact that the poorest 10 percent of Brazilians are poorer than their counterparts in Viet Nam, a country with a far lower average income. Mexico shows a very similar situation.

The Human Development Report team argues that inequalities within countries also weaken the link between economic growth and poverty reduction, and that in very unequal societies, growth may have little impact on poverty. Economic growth alone will be insufficient to enable most countries to achieve the Goal of halving poverty, and far more attention should be paid to creating conditions under which the poor can increase their share of future national income gains, the authors argue.

Based on this dismal state of the world the reports makes the following assertions if there is the will to advance on the MDGs:

Progress on aid, trade and security must be linked
Extreme inequality slows progress
Aid pledges must be kept--and resources delivered quickly
There is a "Perverse taxation" of poor by world trade policies

The Human Development report 2005 argues that development is ultimately "a process of enlarging people's choices," not just raising national incomes. The report includes a large collection of statistical reports and data sets, including the annual Human Development Index.

Download the pdf of the full report here or of the French version here.

or download directly from the UNDP website here or in French here

For additional information visit the UNDP Human Development Report website here.

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Human Development Report 2004 focuses on Cultural Freedoms

Cultural freedoms should be embraced as basic human rights and as necessities for the development and sustainability of the increasingly diverse societies of the 21st century, says the UNDP's HD Report 2004. That is, assuming that humankind is pursuing such ideals.

In a wide-ranging analysis of identity issues in scores of communities and nations, the Human Development Report 2004 looks at many different policy approaches to multicultural nations and communities, from bilingual education and affirmative action plans to innovative systems of proportional representation and federalism. The authors argue that all people have the right to maintain their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identities. They further contend that the adoption of policies that recognize and protect these identities is the only sustainable approach to development in diverse societies. Economic globalization cannot succeed unless cultural freedoms are also respected and protected, they say-and xenophobic resistance to cultural diversity should be addressed and overcome.

Economics 1998 Nobel-Prize winner, Amartya Sen, contributes the introductory chapter saying that "Rather than glorify unreasoned endorsement of inherited traditions, or warn the world about the alleged inevitability of the clash of civilizations -as in Samuel Huntington's confrontational book of similar title-, the human development perspective demands that attention go to the importance of freedom in cultural spheres and to ways of defending and expanding the cultural freedoms that people can enjoy."

The key ares of the report are:

Ethnic Tensions and Exclusions
The Immigration Challenge
Culture as a Global Commodity
Multicultural Federalism
Religious Freedom and Public Policy
Affirmative Action
Language Policy

The Human Development report 2004 includes a number of regional and national reports focusing on issues relevant to each area as well as a large collection of statistical reports and data sets, including the annual Human Development Index.

Download the pdf of the full report here.

For additional information visit the UNDP Human Development Report website here.

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 Economic Development: Human Development Report 2003

There were no pleasent surprises. The new Human Development Report 2003 says inequality and poverty are clearly winning the battle.

The report is out and the evidence is ample: During the 1990s the poor fell further behind whilst the rich became even richer. The promises of liberalisation failed and the Millennium Goals will not be met. Among its highlights:

Human Development is proceeding too slowly. For many countries the 1990s were a decade of despair. Some 54 countries are poorer now than in 1990. In 21, a larger proportion of people is going hungry. In 14, more children are dying before age five. Such reversals were previously rare.
If global progress continues at this pace the Millennium goal of halving income poverty will be met thanks mainly to China and India, but in Sub-Saharan Africa it would not be met until 2147.
In 54 countries, average per capita income fell in the 1990s These countries include low income countries but also some middle income ones from Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe to Iberian America, East Asia and the Arab States.
More than 1.2 billion people -one in every five- survive on less than a dollar a day. This shows a decrease of extreme poverty from 30% to 23%. But, if we exclude China, the number of extremely poor actually grew by 28 million in the 1990s. Indeed, the number of people in Iberian America, the Caribbean, the Arab States, Central and Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa surviving on less than a dollar a day increased.
Poverty has increased even in some countries that have achieved overall economic growth, and over the past two decades income inequality worsened in 33 of 66 developing countries with data.
The richest 5% of the world's people receive 114 times the income of the poorest 5%. The richest 1% receive as much as the poorest 57%. The 25 million richest people in the U.S. have as much income as almost 2 billion of the world's poorest people.
In 1820 Western Europe's per capita income was 2.9 times Africa's and in 1992, 13.2 times.
In recent decades there has unquestionably been a widening gap between incomes of the richest and poorest nations. In fact, in many countries inequality began since the early 1980s with the debt crisis. Since then, inequality has soared, particularly in the commonwealth of Independent States. In Iberian America inequality remains extremely high. This will have dire consequences on human development and social stability.