Not by bread alone

摘要

If you look at countries' social and economic progress since 1990, you will find that, in most cases, it is in line with their historic performance-with some important exceptions. According to the United Nations Development Programme (undp), over 40 countries have done much better than their recent history alone would have suggested. This large group, says the undp, really represents "the rise of the South", not the brics, "Chindia" or some more exclusive club. The distinctive feature of the calculations is that they are based on the undp's "human development index", (hdi) which includes social indicators (for example, health and education) and hence is a broader measure of welfare than gross do- mestic product (gdp), which is based on income.