Dimensions of Human Development - UNICEF

1 Dimensions of Human DevelopmentSABINA ALKIRE*The World Bank, Washington, DC, USAS ummary. If Human Development is multidimensional then perhaps we need to discuss whatwe mean by multidimensional: what is a dimension, and whatarethe multiple Dimensions ofinterest? This paper develops an account of Dimensions of Human Development , and shows itsusefulness and its limitations both in general and in relation to Amartya Sen s capabilityapproach. The second half of the paper surveys other major lists of Dimensions that have beenpublished in poverty studies, crosscultural psychology, moral philosophy, quality of life indicators,participatory Development , and basic needs , and compares and contrasts them with the accountsketched here.

2 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights INTRODUCTION: THE PHENOMENONOF LISTS OF Human ENDS INECONOMIC LITERATUREQ uite often, when one reads a text on eco-nomic, social, or Human Development , onestumbles across a list or array or set of itemsthat the author has written down as ingredientsof the quality of life or as basi chuman needs ,elements of the utility vector, aspects of well-being, or universal Human values. The list mayhave been jotted swiftly or it may have grownreflectively, in long silent evenings or penetrat-ing empirical analysis. It may trail off with etcetera 1or it may try to be be offered as one person s opinion ofwhat may be universally true,3or it may beused, revised, and offered as a best (to date)attempt at a general elements maybe extremely vague5or quite mayhave direct economic7or political may be supported by appeal tophilosophical argument, literary example,qualitative or quantitative evidence, broadconsensus, or common do persons engaged in developmentregularly do this?

3 Perhaps they have a hunchthat certain professional problems could beaddressed more efficiently by use of a list asimple set of items that jog the memory. Forexample, In developing a methodology for commu-nity exercises in rural and urban areas,Chilean professor and activist ManfredMax-Neef constructed a matrix of 10 humanneeds. Consideration of these needs in aparticipatory manner enables a communityto interpret its own situation holistically. After an extensive survey of the Quality ofLife literature, Robert Cummins identifiedseven domains of well-being which togetherconstituted well-being.

4 He developed a Com-prehensive Quality of Life Survey instru-ment, that collects subjective and objectiveindicators in these seven domains. Based on her interpretation of Aristotle,and in an endeavor to extend Sen s capabil-ity approach, Martha Nussbaum has widelyWorld DevelopmentVol. 30, No. 2, pp. 181 205, 2002 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights in Great Britain0305-750X/02/$ - see front matterPII:S0305-750X(01) *I have been grateful for the significant patience, wis-dom, and guidance a number of persons have given mewhile developing these thoughts since 1995, and in par-ticular to Tariq Banuri, Nigel Biggar, Rufus Black, JohnCameron, Dave Crocker, Severine Deneulin, Des Gas-per, the late Mahbubul Haq, Manfred MaxNeef, Mar-tha Nussbaum, Mozaffar Qizilbash, an anonymousreferee, and especially John Finnis and Frances Stewartand Amartya Sen.

5 Robert Chambers, Robert Cummins,Deepa Narayan, and Shalom Schwartz also correctedmy accounts of their work. Staff of Oxfam Pakistanhelped to develop participatory exercises using thesedimensions and taught me much. Versions of this paperwere given in the Development Studies AssociationConferences in Britain 1997 and 1998, at the Universityof Maryland, at the Society of International Develop-ment Conference in 1997, and at Queen Elizabeth HouseOxford. I thank participants in these gatherings for theirresponses and observations. Errors remain my , the findings, interpretations, and conclusionsexpressed in this paper are entirely those of the authorand should not be attributed in any manner to the WorldBank, to its affiliated organizations, or to the membersof its Board of Directors or the countries they also Alkire (2000).

6 Final revision accepted: 1 Octo-ber and defended a list of 10 centralhuman capabilities, with the express inten-tion that these should provide the basis for constitutional principles that should be re-spected and implemented by the govern-ments of all nations. 9 In analyzing a large study of Voices of thePoor from 23 developing countries, DeepaNarayanet al. found that six Dimensions ofwell-being emerged as important, in very dif-ferent ways, to poor people all over theworld. In developing the work of the Basi cNeedsSchool, Frances Stewart identified 10 fea-tures of the full life, and Doyal andGough identified 11 intermediate needs that governments should these examples suggest, in many practicalundertakings, be they participatory monitoringor data collection, constitution building, policymaking, or needs assessment.

7 Leaders in devel-opment have found it useful to construct a listof the different paper proposes a conception of di-mensions of Human Development (in full viewof the vigorous discussions on utility andpreferences), and a rough set of them (eventhough there need not be complete agreementon any exact set of Dimensions ). It discusseswhat, precisely, it might mean for health, orunderstanding, or faith to be a dimension ofhuman Development . Having proposed a con-ceptual account of what Dimensions are, thepaper then compares and contrasts differentlists of Dimensions from various disciplines including the examples just given.

8 Finally, itdiscusses how specifying these dimensionsmight contribute in a limited but significantway to Development theory and mean nothing unusual: anyof the component aspects of a particular situ-ation. 10 The key features of Dimensions arethat they arecomponent aspectsof something in this case Human Development thatcoexistwith other Development , I will mean humanflourishing in its fullest sense in matters pub-lic and private, economic and social and polit-ical and spiritual. This is wider than somedefinitions of well-being that relate only tomaterial deprivations or to aspects of well-be-ing that can be publicly use thisdefinition because the pursuit of narrow goalsaffects wider aspects of well-being.

9 This defini-tion is also narrower than Human -centered de-velopment as a whole because it relatesonlytowell-being considered person by person (eval-uative). For Human Development consists, asSen would argue, of other things besides well-being achievement for any particular person attimet; it also considers their agency as-pects 12what they are able to do about thecauses they follow, such as space exploration orsaving the seals. In addition, it consists ofnonindividualist aspects of social living that areof utmost importance. Limitations of spacerequire this will argue that when we look philosophi-cally at the coexisting components of well-beingwe come upon an important practical andtheoretical tool which is, very simply, a roughset or list of Dimensions .

10 As a tool, like a set ofcrescent wrenches, there are times when noth-ing else will do the job. But like any wrench set,much of the time it will sit on the shelf, beingcalmly irrelevant. Other tools are also crucial tohuman Development : tools for improving thedistribution of improved well-being, tools forincreasing the duration or sustainability of suchimprovements, and so on. Elements of processalso have substantive importance, such as theongoing freedom communities (especiallywomen, ethni cminorities, and other ex cludedgroups) have to have their Human rights re-spected and to participate in the decisions thataffect their lives; the institutionalization of ser-vices that are transparent and effective; theability to learn, to adapt, to empower, to targetthe weakest, to carry on valued traditions, or toinvent new technology; the obligation to carefor the natural environment.