COMCEC Poverty Outlook 2017
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2. Trends in Human Development in OIC Member States
This section aims to analyze the trends in human development in OIC member states by utilizing
Human Development Reports (HDR) published by UNDP. Human development requires
expanding the richness of human life. This approach focuses on people and their opportunities
and choices rather than economy. Based on this paradigm, UNDP produces HDR’s since 1990
and the most recent report was published in 2016.
2.1. International Comparison of Human Development Trends
shows the change in human development index (HDI) for selected country groups
between 1990 and 2015. All of the selected groups experienced an increase in this period. The
world average has increased from 0.597 to 0.717. The OIC average rose from 0.500 to 0.621 and
remained significantly below the OECD and world average. OIC’s HDI values are only higher than
those of LDCs. On the other hand, the gap between the OIC and developing countries has
enlarged in the last 25 years. In 1990, it was only 0.014 points whereas it has risen to 0.047
points in 2015 implying a more rapid progress in developing countries.
Figure 20: Trends in Human Development Index, 1990-2015
Source: Own calculations from UNDP (2016).
Note: The averages are unweighted. That is, each country in the groups has the same weight irrespective of its
population.
The annual growth rate in HDI values between 1990 and 2015 are given in Not
surprisingly, the annual growth rate is higher for the groups with lower initial HDI values.
During the period, OIC member states exhibit almost 1.03 percent growth per year. This rate is
higher than that of OECD and world but lower than developing countries and LDCs. The
0,514
0,569
0,640
0,668
0,347
0,399
0,481
0,508
0,785
0,835
0,872 0,887
0,597
0,641
0,696
0,717
0,500
0,546
0,602
0,621
0,300
0,400
0,500
0,600
0,700
0,800
0,900
1990 2000 2010 2015
Developing countries LDCs OECD World OIC