On October 1, the 56th anniversary of the People's Republic of
China, a Tsinghua
University economics professor spoke about the UN Development
Program (UNDP)'s human development measures for China, the most
recent of which were published a month ago.
Dr. Hu Angang said, "Fifty-six years?are a flash in
history, but it's been a period worth underlining in China, from
1949 when its 540 million population had extremely low quality of
life to 2004 when its 1.3 billion people enjoyed a world average
level of human development."
"This is really a miracle and may be regarded as China's
contribution to the world," Dr. Hu commented.
According to Dr. Hu, China's Human Development Index (HDI) in
1950 was 0.159, ranking extremely low in the world. It rose to
0.525 in 1975, a medium-low level, and to 0.683 in 1995, joining
the medium-high group.
The UNDP's Human Development Report 2005, released on
September 7, said that in 2003 the measure was 0.755. This was
higher than the average of 0.694 for developing countries, as well
as that of medium-development countries (0.718) and the world
average (0.741).?
The report also said the number of Chinese living on one dollar
or less per day fell 50 percent between 1990 and 2001, making China
the first developing country to reach its Millennium Development
Goals, 14 years before schedule.
Despite these achievements problems and contradictions remain in
China's development, said Dr. Hu, who identified four as being
fundamental: social lagging behind economic development; disparity
in urban and rural development; regional disparities; and a huge
number of people living in poverty.
The UNDP report said the HDI of urban China was 0.81, but 0.67
in rural areas, about 61 ranks lower on the world list. Beijing,
Tianjin, Shanghai and some coastal provinces also enjoyed high HDIs
while those in western China were relatively low.
According to the government, 60 million people live below its
definition of the poverty line, and 200 million live on one dollar
or less per day.
Dr. Hu said emphasis should be given to development in rural
areas and central and western regions in the near future, and that
the government should pay more attention to social development,
especially in public health.
The UNDP has commissioned an annual Human Development
Report by an independent team of experts since 1990 to gauge
not only income and basic needs but factors such as human freedom,
dignity and agency through the HDI.
The organization's website said this year's report argued that
development is ultimately "a process of enlarging people's
choices," not just raising national incomes.
(China.org.cn October 9, 2005)