Chapter 4 Human Development | class 12th | quick revision notes for Geography : Fundamentals of Human Geography

Geography Class 12 Notes Chapter 4 Human Development

Growth and Development

• Growth and development refers to changes over a period of time but the difference between growth and development is that growth is quantitative but development is qualitative. Therefore, development is always positive.
• Development cannot take place unless there is an increment or addition to the existing conditions, but growth can be positive, negative or neutral, positive growth does not always led to development.
• Development occurs when there is a positive change in qualities. Earlier economic growth and development of country was seen as one but now they are studied separately.

Human Development

• This concept was introduced by Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq in 1990. Human development is described as that which enlarges people’s choices and improves their lives, thus creating conditions where people can lead meaningful lives.
• This means that people develop talent, participate in society and be free to achieve their goals. According to Prof. Amartya Sen, the main objective of development is an increase in freedom. Freedom to make choices brings development, and social and political institutions play a major role in increasing freedom.
• Building people capabilities in health, education and equal access to resources increases freedom and enlarges choices.

Four Pillars of Human Development

The idea of human development is supported by the concepts of the following four pillars of development:
Equity It refers to equal access to opportunities available to everybody irrespective to their gender, race, income and caste.
Sustainability It means continuity in the availability of opportunities so that future generations can even use the present resources.
Productivity It means human labour which must be enriched by building capabilities in people.
Empowerment It means having the power to make choices which is possible by increasing freedom and capability.

Approaches to Human Development

There are four ways of looking at or approach the problems of human development. Some of the important approaches are:
Income Approach This approach links the development to incomes as it believes that income determines the level of freedom that one enjoys.
Welfare Approach Under this approach, government is responsible for providing basic facilities like health, education and amenities to people.
Basic Needs Approach In this approach, emphasis is on providing six basic needs i.e. health, education, food, water supply, ” sanitation and housing.
Capability Approach This approach is associated with Prof. Amartya Sen and aims to build human capabilities in health, education and-access to resources in order to increase human development.

Measuring Human Development

Following are the ways of measuring human development

Human Development Index

• Human development is measured through Human Development Index (HDI) which ranks the countries between 0 to 1 based on their performance in the key areas of health, education and access to resources.
• It is the sum total of the weights assigned to health, education and access to resources. Indicator to access health is life expectancy at birth, to access knowledge it is adult literacy rate and gross enrollment ratio and resources are measured in terms of purchasing power

Human Poverty Index

This index measures the shortfall in human development. The index is based on the probability of not surviving till 40, adult literacy rate, people not having access to clean drinking water and number of underweight children.

United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1990, publishes the Human Development Report by measuring the Human Development Index and Human Poverty Index.

Gross National Happiness

This is Gross National Happiness (GNH) which is another measure of accessing human development and Bhutan is the only country in the world to measure the country’s progress through GNH. The GNH encourages the qualitative aspect of development.

International Comparisons

• On comparing the human development of different countries, it is revealed that the size of the territory and per capita income are not directly related to human development.
• For comparisons, the countries are classified into four groups on the basis of human development scores earned by them.

Very High Level of Human Development

• The countries scoring above 0.802 are categorised under it. There are 49 countries in this group.
• Top ten countries with very high value index are Norway, Australia, Netherlands, United States, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Germany and Sweden.
• The countries in this group provide education and healthcare which is an important government priority as well as invest a lot in the social sector.

High Level of Human Development

• Countries scoring between 0.702 and 0.801 are grouped under it. They are 56 in number.
• Good governance and lot of investment in social sector has led to high level of human development in these countries.

Medium Level of Human Development

• Countries scoring between 0.555 and 0.701 are grouped under it and there are 39 countries in this group. ‘
• Many of these countries were former colonies and are facing political instability as well as high social diversity.

Low Level of Human Development

• Countries scoring below 0.554 are grouped under it and there are 44 countries in it. These countries are going through political turmoil, social instability, civil war, famine or high incidence of diseases.
• Internal comparisons reveal that the culture, religion or community are non-determinants of human development. Rather, pattern of government expenditure on the social sector, political environment, amount of freedom people have and the distribution of resources play a decisive role in the level of human development.