Measuring Human Development in the MENA Region

ABSTRACT

We aim to assess welfare improvements in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region using the Human Development Index (HDI). We obtain weighting schemes that yield the best- and worst-case scenarios for measured human development, relying on consistent tests for stochastic dominance efficiency (SDE), with the official equally weighted HDI taken as a benchmark. In the best-case scenario index, life expectancy and GDP indexes receive the highest weights for the 1975–2005 period, while the education index is the dominant contributor to the worst-case scenario in the same period. In addition, we observe a relative change in the best- and worst-case scenarios between two fifteen-year periods. The GDP index is the main contributor to the best-case scenario between 1975 and 1990, whereas the education index is the main contributor to the worst-case scenario during that period. Life expectancy is the main contributor to the best-case scenario in the 1990–2005 period, while the GDP and education indexes are the primary contributors to the worst-case scenario during that period.

KEY WORDS:

• Human Development Index
• MENA region
• mixed integer programming
• nonparametric stochastic dominance
• regional development

Notes

1. Starting in 2010 and updated in 2011, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has made adjustments to the construction of the HDI. See the 2011 Human Development Report technical report for details (http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_TechNotes.pdf).

Additional information

Funding

Thanasis Stengos acknowledges financial support from The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBİTAK).