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vi | HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2013
Acknowledgements
The Human Development Report is the product
of a collective effort by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) Human
Development Report Office (HDRO) and
many valued external advisors and contributors.
However, the findings, analysis and policy recommendations
of this Report, as with previous
Reports, are those of the authors alone.
The publication of this Report in March
2013 represents a return to the original schedule
of the Human Development Reports, with
its global launch and distribution in the first
part of the year. This timing allows the Report’s
composite indices to incorporate the most current
statistical indicators and provides greater
opportunity for discussions of the Report’s key
findings and messages during the year.
Preparation of this Report was guided
by a careful re-reading of the first Human
Development Reports by Mahbub ul Haq.
In that spirit, the Report opens with a review
of the current “state of human development”,
looking at key human development trends
and issues in the world today. It also benefited
greatly from the wise counsel of Amartya Sen
and Frances Stewart, Mahbub’s close collaborators,
who generously provided both critical
advice and written contributions.
We are pleased that this Report features
signed contributions from New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Japan International
Cooperation Agency President Akihiko Tanaka
and Turkey’s Minister of Development Cevdet
Yılmaz, among others. We would like to express
special gratitude to the authors of research
papers commissioned by HDRO, who greatly
enriched our understanding of the issues we
set out to address: Fred Block, Nader Fergany,
Ilene Grabel, Khalil Hamdani, Patrick Heller,
Barry Hughes, Inge Kaul, Peter Kragelund,
Shiva Kumar, Wolfgang Lutz, Deepak Nayyar,
Leonce Ndikumana and Ngaire Woods.
Throughout the preparation of the Report,
we received invaluable insights and guidance
from our distinguished HDRO Advisory
Panel, especially Edward S. Ayensu, Cristovam
Buarque, Michael Elliott, Jayati Ghosh, Patrick
Guillaumont, Nanna Hvidt, Rima Khalaf,
Nora Lustig, Sir James Alexander Mirrlees,
Rajendra K. Pachauri, Samir Radwan, Rizal
Ramli, Gustav Ranis, Frances Stewart, Miguel
Székely and Kandeh K. Yumkella.
We would also like to thank HDRO’s statistical
panel, which provided expert advice
on methodologies and data choices related to
the calculation of the Report’s human development
indices: Anthony Atkinson, Rachid
Benmokhtar Benabdellah, Enrico Giovannini,
Peter Harper, Anthony K.M. Kilele, Ben Paul
Mungyereza, Hendrik Van der Pol, Marcia
Quintsler and Eduardo Sojo Garza-Aldape.
The Report’s composite indices and other
statistical resources rely on the expertise of the
leading international data providers in their
specialized fields, and we express our gratitude
for their continued collegial collaboration with
the Human Development Report. To ensure
accuracy and clarity, the Report’s statistical
analysis also benefited from an external review
of statistical findings by Akmal Abdurazakov,
Sabina Alkire, Virginija Cruijsen, Kenneth
Harttgen and Claudio Montenegro.
The consultations held around the world
during preparation of the Report relied on the
generous support of many institutions and individuals
who are too numerous to mention here.
Consultations were held between September
2011 and June 2012 in Addis Ababa, Bonn,
Brasilia, Colombo, Geneva, New York, Rabat,
Santiago and Tokyo. Support from partnering
institutions, including UNDP country and
regional offices, listed at http://hdr.undp.org/
en/reports/hdr2013/consultations, is acknowledged
with much gratitude.
Many of our UNDP colleagues around the
world—as members of the HDRO Readers
Group and the Executive Group—provided
invaluable insights into the preparation and final
drafting of the Report. We would especially
like to thank Adel Abdellatif, Ajay Chhibber,
Pedro Conceição, George Gray Molina, Rebeca
Grynspan, Selim Jehan, Olav Kjørven, Natalia
Linou, Kamal Malhotra, Abdoulaye Mar
Dieye, Charles McNeill, Shantanu Mukherjee,
Heraldo Muñoz, Madi Musa, Thangaval
Palanivel, Anuradha Rajivan, Turhan Saleh,