Human Development in South Asia 2008: Technology and Human Development in South Asia

Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre's 2008 Report on technology and human development in South Asia underlines the imperative of focusing on good quality technical, vocational and higher levels of professional education for enhancing productivity of the economy, and improving public service delivery in education, health and governance in South Asia. In this region, a huge absolute number of poor are illiterate, in poor health and lack government services in critical areas that concern their lives and livelihoods. The Report presents an analysis of adoption and diffusion of technology, particularly ICT, in the region. The Report raises several issues that are yet to be addressed in the region, particularly in the poorer parts of every country regarding the lack of affordable technological education, and minimum use of technology in delivering services to people in inaccessible areas, despite the huge growth of wireless technology. The Report argues that to sustain economic growth South Asia needs to seriously address its limited use of technology of all types. The wealth of data collected for the Report to update South Asia's human development indicators will be valuable for policymakers and academic researchers.