The Problems of Measuring Development

Aims:To look at types of measurement

To evaluate the differencesTo get a sense of policy differentiation

To be able to take an objective perspective on measurement

Measuring Development

Why do we need to measure?

What are the methods? Do they work? What are the Goals? Are they working? Are there alternatives?

Measurement?

Traditional economics uses Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the indicator of economic growth- and hence development.

This traditional perspective is too narrow because development is more than just growth and GDP is purely an economic indicator.

GDP and GNP GDP – Gross Domestic

Product: The Total value of all goods and services produced in an economy in a given period, usually one year.GNP – Gross National Product: The total value of all goods and services produced in an economy in a given year plus all incomes received from abroad minus all payments sent abroad.

GDP as a Measurement?

‘Beyond the GDP’ EC videoshot 9 minutes http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/video_pr

od_en.cfm?type=detail&prodid=4239&src=1

Health as a Measurement

Food Security

PQLI PQLI – Physical Quality

of Life Index: Measures left expectancy, infant mortality rates and literacy levels. These are measured on a scale of to 0 to 100 – 0 being the worst performance in each category in 1950 and 100 being the best performance expected for the year 2000. The indices are then averaged.

HPI HPI – Human Poverty Index:

The human poverty index measures deprivation on basic human development and is made up of four indicators. There are the percentage of people expected to die before the age of 40, the percentage of adults who are illiterate, the percentage of people without access to safe water and to health services and the percentage of underweight children under the age of 5.

United Nations HDI – Human Development Index:

This is one of the most comprehensive calculations of poverty. It used by the UNDP in their annual human development reports. It uses three equally weighted dimensions of human development – life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate and purchasing power. Ireland currently ranks at No 4 among the 175 countries documented by this year's Human Development Index. Sierra Leone comes last, but note some countries are not listed, like Somalia, Liberia, and East Timor who could fall even lower.

Measuring the Richest According to the UN, in

2002, the countries with the highest HDI were as follows:

1. Norway2. Sweden3. Canada4. Belgium5. Australia6. United States7. Iceland8. Netherlands9. Japan10. Finland

Measuring the Poorest By contrast, the countries

with the worst HDI in 2002 were:

1. Sierra Leone2. Niger3. Burundi4. Mozambique5. Burkina Faso6. Ethiopia7. Guinea-Bissau8. Chad9. Central African Republic10. Mali

Out of 1.00 – levels of Development

Goals for Development

“The Millennium Development Goals present the world with daunting challenges. Unless there is radical improvement, too many countries will miss the targets—with disastrous consequences for the poorest and most vulnerable of their citizens…. For the first time there is genuine consensus among rich and poor countries that poverty is the world’s problem…. the solutions to hunger, disease, poverty and lack of education are well known. What is needed is for efforts to be properly resourced, and for services to be distributed more fairly and efficiently.” http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2008/

MDG_Report_2008_En.pdf

The 8 Goals

There are eight MDG (Goals) in all, divided into 18 specific, measurable targets. The eights targets are as follows:

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and Hunger2. Achieve universal primary education3.Promote gender equality and empower women 4. Reduce child mortality5. Improve maternal health6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases7. Ensure environmental sustainability 8. Develop a global partnership for development

Target 2015

Useful Websites http://www.un.org/

millenniumgoals http://hdr.undp.org/reports/

default.cfm http://www.worldbank.org/data/

intconference.html http://www.oecd.org/site/

0,2865,en_21571361_31834434_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

http://www.developmentgoals.org/index.html

http://www.undp.org/dpa/choices/