KARACHI:
Growth, usually called “economic growth”, is gauged by a country’s gross domestic product which measures the size and health of the economy. Contrastingly, development, atypically considered a synonym of “growth”, is the measure of a country’s growth in various aspects such as income, education level, happiness etc.
There are many countries with a high GDP that are not doing so well on the developmental index. For example, Pakistan’s GDP, before Covid-19, saw an increase over the last decade but it is severely lagging behind in improving the quality of life. Pakistan’s Human Development Index (HDI) value for 2019 was 0.557 placing it at the 154th position — out of 189 countries. Countries, like Pakistan, cannot solely focus on improving their GDP rates but they should strive equally hard for human-centric development. They need to introduce new policies and social development programmes to enhance the quality of life for the people. This can only be possible when the government and relevant officials prioritise health and education.
Parkash Kumar
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2021.
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