Special report to focus on human development trend

China’s reset to a more human and sustainable development model — characterized by a “people-oriented” focus — as expressed in the China National Human Development Report to be released in December, will help spread its successful experience to more developing countries, according to United Nations Resident Coordinator Nicholas Rosellini.

The United Nations Development Programme signed memorandums of understanding on Wednesday in Beijing with the State Information Center and Tsinghua University to strengthen research capacity for the report, a special edition that marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up and the 20th anniversary of the report’s localization in China.

The special edition will focus on China’s human development trend at the national level, analyze challenges and solutions applied at different stages of development and propose strategies for continued institutional reform for sustaining human development, according to the UN.

Yang Yongheng, associate

There are wide gaps in the development of different regions in China, while the country has not yet found solutions to solve the problems.” Zhou Yiren,

dean of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua, said the report addresses China’s unique theory of human development, touches upon institutional challenges, discusses the link between the UN’s sustainable development goals and China’s five-year plan, and recommends an extended human development index system embedded with China’s experience.

The index, introduced in 1990 by the UNDP, is a data composite of life expectancy, education and per capita income, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development.

A country scores higher on the index when the life span is higher, the education level is higher and the GDP per capita is higher.

The extension of the index will include a multidimensional poverty index, gender inequality index and others. The system will also focus on regional imbalances.

Zhou Yiren, deputy director of the State Information Center, said he hoped the report would identify the reasons for imbalances in regional development in China through data analysis.

“There are wide gaps in the development of different regions in China, while the country has not yet found solutions to solve the problems — or specific measures to improve the situation,” Zhou said.

This is the 9th report since the UNDP localized its flagship publication, Human Development Report, to China in 1997. The human development approach emphasizes that the development of a country cannot be assessed by economic growth alone. Success means expanding the richness of human life and advancing human well-being as the ultimate path to sustained development.