Adolescence

Measuring human developmentAn introduction to Table 10Arab Jamahiriya; Madagascar; Malawi;Malaysia; Maldives; Mali; Marshall Islands;Mauritania; Mauritius; Mexico; Micronesia(Federated States of); Mongolia; Morocco;Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nauru;Nepal; Nicaragua; Niger; Nigeria; Niue;Occupied Palestinian Territory; Oman;Pakistan; Palau; Panama; Papua NewGuinea; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Qatar;Republic of Korea; Rwanda; Saint Kitts andNevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and theGrenadines; Samoa; Sao Tome and Principe;Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Seychelles; SierraLeone; Singapore; Solomon Islands; Somalia;South Africa; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Suriname;Swaziland; Syrian Arab Republic; Tajikistan;Thailand; Timor-Leste; Togo; Tonga; Trinidadand Tobago; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan;Tuvalu; Uganda; United Arab Emirates;United Republic of Tanzania; Uruguay;Uzbekistan; Vanuatu; Venezuela (BolivarianRepublic of); Viet Nam; Yemen; Zambia;ZimbabweLeast developed countries/territoriesAfghanistan; Angola; Bangladesh; Benin;Bhutan; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cambodia;Central African Republic; Chad; Comoros;Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti;Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Gambia;Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Haiti; Kiribati; LaoPeople’s Democratic Republic; Lesotho;Liberia; Madagascar; Malawi; Maldives;Mali; Mauritania; Mozambique; Myanmar;Nepal; Niger; Rwanda; Samoa; Sao Tomeand Principe; Senegal; Sierra Leone;Solomon Islands; Somalia; Sudan;Timor-Leste; Togo; Tuvalu; Uganda;United Republic of Tanzania; Vanuatu;Yemen; ZambiaIf development is to be measured using acomprehensive and inclusive assessment, itis necessary to appraise human as well aseconomic progress. From UNICEF’s point ofview, there is a need for an agreed methodof measuring the level of child well-beingand its rate of change.The under-five mortality rate (U5MR) is usedin Table 10 (pages 126–129) as the principalindicator of such progress. In 1970, around16.3 million children were dying every year.In 2009, by comparison, the estimatednumber of children who died beforetheir fifth birthday stood at 8.1 million –highlighting a significant long-term declinein the global number of under-five deaths.The U5MR has several advantages as agauge of child well-being:• First, the U5MR measures an end resultof the development process rather thanan ‘input’ such as school enrolment level,per capita calorie availability or numberof doctors per thousand population – allof which are means to an end.• Second, the U5MR is known to be theresult of a wide variety of inputs: forexample, antibiotics to treat pneumonia;insecticide-treated mosquito nets toprevent malaria; the nutritional wellbeingand health knowledge of mothers;the level of immunization and oralrehydration therapy use; the availabilityof maternal and child health services,including antenatal care; income andfood availability in the family; theavailability of safe drinking water andbasic sanitation; and the overall safetyof the child’s environment.• Third, the U5MR is less susceptible to thefallacy of the average than, for example,per capita gross national income (GNI).This is because the natural scale doesnot allow the children of the rich to beone thousand times more likely to survive,even if the human-made scale doespermit them to have one thousand timesas much income. In other words, itis much more difficult for a wealthyminority to affect a nation’s U5MR, andthis indicator therefore presents a moreaccurate, if far from perfect, picture ofthe health status of the majority ofchildren and of society as a whole.The speed of progress in reducing the U5MRcan be assessed by calculating its averageannual rate of reduction (AARR). Unlike thecomparison of absolute changes, the AARRreflects the fact that the lower limits to theU5MR are approached only with increasingdifficulty.As lower levels of under-five mortalityare reached, the same absolute reductionrepresents a greater percentage reduction.The AARR therefore shows a higher rateof progress for a 10-point reduction, forexample, if that reduction happens at alower level of under-five mortality. A10-point decrease in the U5MR from 100 to90 represents a reduction of 10 per cent,whereas the same 10-point decrease from20 to 10 represents a reduction of 50 percent. (A negative value for the percentagereduction indicates an increase in theU5MR during the period specified.)When used in conjunction with grossdomestic product (GDP) growth rates, theU5MR and its rate of reduction can thereforegive a picture of the progress being made byany country, territory or region, over anyperiod of time, towards the satisfaction ofsome of the most essential human needs.As Table 10 shows, there is no fixedrelationship between the annual reductionrate of the U5MR and the annual rate ofgrowth in per capita GDP. Such comparisonshelp shed light on the relationship betweeneconomic advances and humandevelopment.Finally, the table gives the total fertilityrate for each country and territory and thecorresponding AARR. It is clear that many ofthe nations that have achieved significantreductions in their U5MR have also achievedsignificant reductions in fertility.STATISTICAL TABLES 125