Human Development Report 2016

FIGURE 1.1
Regional trends in Human Development Index values
Human development classification
(Human Development Index value)
Very high
(0.800 or
greater)
High
(0.700–
0.799)
Medium
(0.550–
0.699)
Europe & Central Asia
Latin America &
the Caribbean
East Asia & the Pacific
Arab States
South Asia
Low
(less than
0.550)
Sub-Saharan Africa
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Source: Human Development Report Office.
Decreased mortality
The global under-five mortality rate was more
than halved between 1990 and 2015. 25 The
steepest decline was in Sub- Saharan Africa,
where the challenge was the greatest. While
children in the poorest households are far less
likely to survive to their fifth birthdays, the
mortality rate is declining faster for children
in poor households than for other children.
Maternal mortality rates have also declined
considerably since 1990: 45 percent globally
and 64 percent in South Asia, as of 2013. 26
Access to professional health care has improved:
in 2014 more than 71 percent of births
worldwide were attended by skilled health personnel,
up from 59 percent in 1990. In North
Africa the proportion of pregnant women who
receive at least four antenatal medical visits rose
from 50 percent in 1990 to 89 percent in 2014,
the largest improvement worldwide. 27 Globally,
nearly two-thirds of women ages 15–49 who
are married or in union use contraception, up
from 55 percent in 1990.
Global health is also improving. In developing
regions the proportion of undernourished
people has been nearly halved since 1990. 28
In 2013 measles-containing vaccines reached
84 percent of children worldwide. Global
coverage of two doses of the measles vaccine increased
from 15 percent in 2000 to 53 percent
in 2013, resulting in a 67 percent decline in the
number of annual reported measles cases. An
estimated 15.6 million lives were saved through
measles vaccination between 2000 and 2013. 29
These positive developments have led to a dramatic
decline in preventable child deaths.
Overall mortality rates are falling in part because
of actions to tackle malaria, tuberculosis,
measles, and HIV and AIDS. Between 2001
and 2015 more than 6.8 million malaria deaths,
many of them in children, were prevented. 30 The
number of new HIV infections also fell, from
an estimated 3.5 million in 2000 to 2.1 million
in 2013. From 1995 to 2013 increasing use of
antiretroviral therapy averted 7.6 million deaths
from AIDS. 31 Tuberculosis mortality rates also
fell in response to efforts to prevent, diagnose
and treat the disease, with 37 million lives saved
between 2000 and 2013. 32
Improved access to basic
social services
Access to basic social services has been greatly
expanded worldwide. Between 1990 and 2015,
While children in the
poorest households
are far less likely to
survive to their fifth
birthdays, the mortality
rate is declining faster
for children in poor
households than
for other children
Chapter 1 Human development — achievements, challenges and hopes | 27