The concept of human development can refer to two different issues. On the one hand, it is linked to the improvement of the living conditions of the human being through satisfying their needs. On the other hand, it can refer to development in the biological sense, from conception to birth or adulthood.
Staying with the first of the aforementioned meanings, the idea of human development is associated with the availability of resources to satisfy material needs and the formation of an environment that allows the individual to exploit their potential. The greater human development, the better quality of life.
Work for human development is to expand opportunities and choices for people to progress and increase their welfare. The various edges linked to human development are usually measured through the Human Development Index (HDI).
The HDI analyzes the life expectancy, the years of schooling and the per capita GDP of the inhabitants of each country and establishes an international ranking. Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Germany and Denmark tend to be the nations with the highest HDI.
In 1965, the so-called United Nations Development Program, abbreviated UNDP, was created after merging the Expanded Technical Assistance Program and the Special Fund, which emerged in 1949 and 1958, respectively. The UNDP was launched by the General Assembly and its objective is to promote an improvement in the quality of life of the people who make up this system. Precisely, the report called IDH is a publication of this program.
UNDP is active in 178 countries, and its main function is to collaborate with the people so that they can achieve a higher standard of living. To promote this improvement, it provides them with the knowledge, resources and experience they need. Each country faces different challenges, and UNDP helps them create and share strategies to overcome them.
For a country to be able to give rise to the human development of its inhabitants, it is necessary to resolve the points expressed in the previous paragraph, among others, and that is why it is a difficult task, which always leaves a percentage of people out of progress. Democratic governance is one of the most important, since it seeks through democracy the creation of processes and institutions that respond to the needs of the people more effectively.
If we do not have access to public administration and justice, if we cannot participate in the electoral processes and legislative decisions of our nation, then we are not fundamental components of society but mere pieces that others have to move as they please. Human development implies the idea of freedom, so that each person moves through their environment as an authentic individual, although they are part of a larger whole that represents them.
In terms of biology, human development begins with fertilization, when a female gamete fuses with a male gamete and a new individual emerges, whose genome comes from both parents. This zygote grows in the maternal uterus as a fetus for nine months until the time of delivery. After birth, the human being continues his development until reaching maturity and becoming an adult.