Arab Human Development Report 2002

United Nations Development Programme | 2011-02-24

From the document's foreward by UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown:

This report is the first regional HDR for the Arab States and covers a total of 22 countries from the Maghreb to the Gulf. The report has some encouraging findings. Overall, it shows that Arab states have made substantial progress in human development over the past three decades. Life expectancy has increased by about 15 years; mortality rates for children under five years of age have fallen by about two thirds; adult literacy has almost doubled -- and women's literacy has trebled -- reflecting very large increases in gross educational enrollments, including those of girls. Daily caloric intake and access to safe water are higher, and the incidence of dire poverty is lower than in any other developing region.

But the report also makes it clear how much still needs to be done to provide current and future generations with the political voice, social choices and economic opportunities they need to build a better future for themselves and their families. It notes that quantitative improvements in health and education have not yet reached all citizens, and finds that too often expansion of services has not been matched by needed qualitative improvements in their delivery. It underlines how far the Arab states still need to go in order to join the global information society and economy as full partners, and to tackle the human and economic scourge of joblessness, which afflicts Arab countries as a group more seriously than any other developing region. And it clearly outlines the challenges for Arab states in terms of strengthening personal freedoms and boosting broad-based citizen participation in political and economic affairs.