Exploring the New Era: An Empirical Analysis of China’s Regional HDI Development

ABSTRACT

Based on the Human Development Index (HDI), this paper investigates the changes in China’s sectoral imbalance and provincial disparity. This paper calculates the HDI of Chinese provinces in 1982–2015 and analyzes the changes in the level of human development in various provinces since 1982. This paper finds that from 1982 to 2015, the HDI of all provinces in China generally increased. Among the three components of the HDI (income, health status, and education), income made the greatest contribution to the increase in the HDI. However, its marginal contribution to the HDI decreases as the gross national income (GNI) per capita increases. The provincial disparity among different areas is continually declining, while the component that makes the largest contribution varies: in 1982, income made the largest contribution, whereas in 2015, it was education. Income growth is the largest contributor to the continuous decline in HDI inequality, and education and health increases are positively correlated with increases in the HDI.

KEY WORDS:

• human development index
• income inequality
• provincial disparity
• sectoral imbalance

JEL:

• H59