"Development" can be defined and measured in a great variety of ways. The human development index used by the United Nations Development Programme represents an attempt to place the emphasis on human welfare rather than on the progress of the national economy. This index, however, contains a...

The United Nations Development Program has published its Human Development Index values for most countries of the world for the past five years. It claims the index provides information that goes beyond the widely-used GDP data and is relevant for policy-making. Critical examination shows that...

The United Nations Committee for Development Planning (CDP) in its annual report 1991 has attempted to redefine and update the list of countries classified as least developed in order to give guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. We have...