The Human Development Index (HDI) uses the measurements of life expectancy, education and per capita income in an attempt to determine the level of human development at a global scale. It uses state boundaries and averages these three measurements at a national scale, providing a general idea of the standard of living in each country. However, critics find that this a very broad approach that does not consider vast inequalities within a nation's boundaries. For example, the map below, divided into four quartiles (a fifth in black signifies no data), shows that Brazil has a high level of human development. While this may be the case overall, the map itself if flawed as it shows this result as spread evenly across the nation's boundaries in green. In reality, Brazil has a notorious level of corruption and is very unevenly "developed." This can be seen in the various paramilitary or gang controlled favelas, or in the over-exploited mining regions which can no longer provide subsistence foods for rural communities. Even in Chile, which scores among the highest on the HDI, has within its borders an uneven distribution of livelihood, particularly in the northern Atacama desert.
In class we asked whether these results are a representation of reality. While they provide a general assumption of state function and aspiration, a more accurate expression of reality would show a distribution of these averages within each country, to show which countries suffer from concentrated pockets of poor HDI, as is certainly the case in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. While some residents in heavily commercial and industrial areas are benefiting from better services and schools, other regions are literally cut off from these districts. In the case of the Honduran Mosquitia, some Miskitu communities have to fly to the port city of La Ceiba if they require medical treatment, as there are no roads and few medical services outside of those provided by missionaries.
In class we asked whether these results are a representation of reality. While they provide a general assumption of state function and aspiration, a more accurate expression of reality would show a distribution of these averages within each country, to show which countries suffer from concentrated pockets of poor HDI, as is certainly the case in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. While some residents in heavily commercial and industrial areas are benefiting from better services and schools, other regions are literally cut off from these districts. In the case of the Honduran Mosquitia, some Miskitu communities have to fly to the port city of La Ceiba if they require medical treatment, as there are no roads and few medical services outside of those provided by missionaries.
A Moravian hospital in the Miskitu town of Ahuas, Honduras.
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