The 2016 Human Development Report (HDR) focuses on how human development can be ensured for every one—now and in future. It starts with an account of the hopes and challenges of today’s world, envisioning where humanity wants to go. Our vision draws from and builds on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that the 193 member states of the United Nations endorsed in 2015—and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the world has committed to achieve.
The Report explores who has been left behind in human development progress—and why. Human development progress over the past 25 years has been impressive on many fronts. But the gains have not been universal. There are imbalances across countries; socioeconomic, ethnic and racial groups; urban and rural areas; and women and men. Millions of people are unable to reach their full potential in life because they suffer deprivations in multiple dimensions of human development.
Besides mapping the nature and location of deprivations, the Report raises some specific analytical and assessment issues. To find out if everyone benefits from the human development progress, an average perspective is not going to work—a disaggregated approach is needed. Nor will a purely quantitative assessment succeed—qualitative aspects are needed, too. Data on agency freedom also need to be reviewed, particularly on voice and accountability. Finally, good generation and dissemination of data are important, requiring further in-depth research, experiments, consultations and alliance building among stakeholders.
The Report also identifies the national policies and key strategies to ensure that will enable every human being achieve at least basic human development and to sustain and protect the gains. And it addresses the structural challenges of global institutions and presents options for reform.
This briefing note is organized into nine sections. The first section presents information on the country coverage and methodology of the Statistical Annex of the 2016 HDR. The next eight sections provide information about key indicators of human development including the Human Development Index (HDI), the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI), the Gender Development Index (GDI), the Gender Inequality Index (GII), and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). The 2016 HDR introduces two experimental dashboards – on life-course gender gap and on sustainable development.
It is important to note that national and international data can differ because international agencies standardize national data to allow comparability across countries and in some cases may not have access to the most recent national data. We encourage national partners to explore the issues raised in the HDR with the most relevant and appropriate data from national and international sources.