Many people think that economic growth is the same thing as human development. Wrong! In fact, these two factors are not always associated.
Measurements of economic growth seek to assess the wealth generated by a given country, but do not consider the population's quality of life. As a result, in 1990, the HDI (Human Development Index) to know the changes in the quality of life of the population across the planet.
The HDI (measured by the UNDP – United Nations Development Program) is an index that varies from 0 to 1 and takes in considering the life expectancy of the population, the mortality rate, public investments in health and the level of inequalities. Altogether, 177 countries carry out this measurement, representing almost the entire world.
Note the table below which represents the HDI of some countries in the world and their positions in the world ranking.
The HDI of some countries in the world (data from 2009)¹
As we can see, there is a subdivision that distinguishes countries with high, medium and low HDI. The HDI of countries that have an average above 0.8 is considered high, the HDI that is between 0.5 and 0.79 is considered medium and the HDI below 0.5 is considered low. Brazil, for the first time in history, has an HDI considered high.
Also note in the table that if economic development meant human development, the United States would be in 1st place and not 12th. China, which is currently the second largest economy, would not be in 81st place, even behind Brazil.
Therefore, sometimes, for a country, it is more necessary to invest in quality of life than in economy.
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¹ Source: VESENTINI, J. W. Geography: the world in transition. São Paulo: Editora Ática, 2012. p.269.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography