HDR 1990, JIST historical Background

1. Presented by : Mukesh Mishra
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2. GLOBAL THEME
CONCEPT AND MEASUREMENT
OF
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
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3. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT
1990
Human Development Report 1990, was launched in
London on 24th May 1990, which addressed
some of the concerns of contemporary era and
explored the relationship between economic
growth and human development. It challenged
some of the conventional wisdom, blew up some
of the old myths and reached to some important
policy conclusions that would have significant
implications for developing strategies for the next
3 decade.

4. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1990
The report addresses , as its main issue, the
question of how economic growth translate or
fails to translate into human development.
The report basically focuses on two aspects;
 Putting people back at the centre of
development process in terms of economic
debate, policy and advocacy.
 Emphasizing on enlarging the people’s choices
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5. MAJOR CONTENTS OF THE REPORT
The HDR 1990 is divided into four
chapters, each dealing with different
aspects of Human Development.
 Chapter 1: Defining and measuring
Human Development
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6. Cont…
 Chapter 2 : Human Development
since 1960
 Chapter 3: Economic Growth and
Human Development
 Chapter 4: Human Development
Strategies for 1990s
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7. Chapter 1: Defining and Measuring
Human Development
The report clarifies the meaning of human development as,
it is a process of enlarging people’s choices.
Enlargement of people’s choices is possible by
expanding human capabilities and functionings, which
ultimately enables people to;
 lead long and healthy lives,
 be knowledgeable,
 and have a decent standard of living.
Additional choices include political freedom, guaranteed
human rights and self-respect.
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8. Measurement of Human Development
According to report Physical Quality Life Index( PQLI)
is unable to represent the real status of human
development so report further discusses about
measurement of human development, proposing a
new composite index :
 Human Development Index (HDI)
The HDI –Human Development Index- is explained as
a summary composite index that measures a
country’s average achievements in three basic
aspects of human development: health,
8 knowledge, and a decent standard of living.

9. Chapter 2 : Human Development since 1960
The report summarizes the record of human
development of several UN countries over the
past three decades (i.e. since 1960s). The
report primarily explains about disparities
between developing and industrial countries in
regards of GNP per capita, Adult literacy,
School enrolment , Life expectancy and Access
to safe water. The report further discusses
about the pattern of migration and status of
HIV/AIDS through out of the World.
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10. Chapter 3: Economic Growth and
Human Development
In this section, report tries to clarify the
association between economic growth and
human development. Economic growth is just
regarded as the means of human development
not the ends. According to report “Economic
growth is essential for human development, but
to exploit fully the opportunities for improved
well being that growth offers, it needs to be
properly managed.”
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11. Chapter: 3 cont…..
Some important parts of this chapter are;
 There is no automatic link between
economic growth and human progress.
 Social expenditures must be restructured to
benefit many, rather than a few.
 To avoid lasting damage to the human
condition, macroeconomic adjustment are
needed to restore growth that has fallen off.
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12. Chapter 4: Human Development
Strategies for 1990s
Eventually, the report come up with
several policy conclusions to setup
further strategies for human
development:
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13. MAJOR POLICY CONCLUSIONS
 In spite of income gaps existing between
developed and developing countries , there is
room for optimism with respect to the
achievement in the area of human
development.
 Economic growth matters but growth does not
automatically translate into higher level of
human development ; redistribution of policies
and equality of opportunities are important.
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14. Cont…….
 Poverty alleviation is very crucial for human
development.
 It is essential to create better database for
human development indicators and very
necessary to analyze the impact of polices and
programs on people rather than production.
 Scarcity of resources is not the main reason for
deprivation in human development; most often
it is due to misplaced priorities of the state.
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15. CONCLUSION
The report is basically focusing , the meaning and
significance of human development approach as well as
dealing with methodological issues of Human
development measurement by introducing a new index
called HDI (Human Development Index).
The HDR 1990 was able to capture the attention of planners
and policy makers to think seriously about this holistic
approach of human development and restructure
budgetary expenditures, including military expenditures,
and create an international economic and financial
environment conductive to human development.
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