Feb 4

The main issue touched on by Jahan is that of work. He defines work as being more than just jobs and formal employment, but rather a broader concept that includes creative work, care for children or adults who need it, and volunteer work. He identifies work as a crucial component of human development, and identifies certain subareas of concern that can hint at human development levels such as youth in employment, gender makeup of workers, and the level of influence on the economy had by the informal sector. His definition of human development, the process of enlarging human choices, incorporates specific measurements like whether people live long and healthy lives, have knowledge, and enjoy a decent standard of living. These aspects contribute to the Human Development Index, which describes the focus of human development, while the breadth measurement picks out specific details to elaborate on for further understanding of a region’s human development.

While Jahan focuses more on the value of work in society, Hans Rosling identifies in his TED talk that health is often more instrumental in human development than wealth, like in China and the United Arab Emirates. A society’s health can contribute greatly to increasing the lifespan and standards of living of a country, which Jahan suggested were instrumental for measuring human development. Rosling states that “health cannot be bought at the supermarket” and that a country must “invest in health,” indicating that if a country already has health systems in place their other aspects of human development can grow alongside it, rather than be inhibited by the lack of proper health support.

The tyranny of averages occurs again and again throughout public perception of human development as people tend to make assumptions about a society’s well-being by singular data points. When considering human development, it is often best to compare a country to itself many years ago rather than contrasting countries against each other. Rosling frequently notes that an average is insufficient in understanding the totality of human development because it is merely a snapshot of time, but the real information can be found by identifying trends and growth through time. For instance, 100 years ago the most countries in poverty were Asian countries. Now, a mere snapshot of time may show that these countries are still not well off, but watching the data progress shows that the percentage of impoverished Asian countries has greatly decreased 100 years later and is nearing 0 as the income distribution shifts forward. Encouraging comprehensive methods of analysis like GapMinder, especially when incorporated into the media and public perception, will allow for greater understanding of how development across countries has advanced through the years.