2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the Human Development Report (HDR). Since 1990, the HDR has shifted the global development discourse from a near-exclusive focus on economic growth to a more balanced assessment of living standards based on health and education and human freedom as well as income.  The HDRs have provided innovative analysis on subjects ranging from gender, culture and the MDGs to clean water access and immigration. This milestone year is an opportunity to both reaffirm and strengthen the original Human development vision and methodology, and to provide new diagnostic tools to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.

With every edition of the HDR, UNDP’s Human Development Report Office publishes a series of specially commissioned Human Development Research Papers that collectively provide the innovative analysis and data synthesized in the annual Report.

This first group of HDR 2010 research papers features some of the more fundamental and conceptual research that informs the new Report. These papers discuss the conceptual basis of the human development approach, related aspects of global governance, the role of markets and the state, new ways to measure human development, the role of natural resources, and the challenge of sustainability.

This release includes a provocative paper by Gray and Purser that examines 40 years of Human Development Index (HDI) trends; its findings were spotlighted in our Let´s Talk HD blog, which in turn attracted the attention of the Times of India.

HDRPs: Thematic research on key issues and concepts of human development

HD Concepts

• Alkire, Sabina, "Human Development: Definitions, Critiques, and Related Concepts" [1,106 KB]

• Neumayer, Eric, "Human Development and Sustainability" [681 KB]

HD Data and Trends

• Gray Molina, George and Mark Purser, "Human Development Trends since 1970: A Social Convergence Story" [922 KB]

• Pineda, José and Francisco Rodríguez, "Curse or Blessing? Natural Resources and Human Development" [706 KB]

HD and Governance

• Pritchett, Lant, "Birth Satisfaction Units (BSU): Measuring Cross-National Differences in Human Well-Being" [595 KB]

• Jayadev, Arjun, "Global Governance and Human Development: Promoting Democratic Accountability and Institutional Experimentation" [540 KB]

• Walton, Michael, "Capitalism, the state, and the underlying drivers of human development" [653 KB]

HD in Europe

• Stewart, Kitty, "Human Development in Europe" [949 KB]

HD in Africa

• Fosu, Augustin Kwasi and Germano Mwabu, "Human Development in Africa" [1,226 KB]

Visit our website as we continue to publish more 2010 research papers until the launch of the 20^th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report in October 2010.