MEASURING DEVELOPMENT - Development Geography - page 22

Measuring Development in Wider Terms
Including Human Rights and Freedoms

In Chapter 1.1 the ideas of Goulet (1971) and Sen (1999) , stressing the
importance of self-esteem and freedoms as components of the develop-
ment equation, were outlined. Such views represent specific recognition
that wider aspects of development are vital, particularly those that
relate to the quality of people's lives, their freedom from various ine-
qualities, and the attainment of human rights and basic freedoms.
In Chapter 1.5 the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), designed
to steer the world to enhanced levels of development, are explained and
reviewed. For each of the goals there are associated targets and detai-
led indicators. The indicators can be employed in order to assess the
progress of nations and regions towards the goals and targets, and the-
reby represent measures of the wider dimensions of development, cove-
ring issues such as:

(i) Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger - measured by the per-
centage of the population living on less than $1 or $2 per day (now
$1.25 and $ 2.50 per day)
(ii) Achieving universal primary education
(iii) Promoting gender equality and empowering women
(iv) Reducing child mortality
(v) Improving maternal welfare
(vi) Combatting diseases

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National reports covering progress towards the MDGs are available on
the UNDP website. The 94-page Report for India 2009, for example,
shows in considerable detail the mixed success achieved by that nation
on the 12 targets that apply to it.
In terms of basic human rights, an interesting approach is to chart
the extent to which countries have ratified the six major human rights
conventions and covenants (for example, the Rights of the Child,
Against Torture, etc.; see Potter et al., 2008). In like vein, as noted
above, the United Nations Human Development Report 2010 introduced
the HDI-derived Gender Inequality Index (GII) (see Figure 1.2.2B). The
statistics input to the GII include the national female and male shares
of parliamentary seats and educational attainment. The GII also
includes female participation in the labour market. Thereby, the GII