Contents of Concepts “Population Development” and “Human Development”: Identities and Differences

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Contents of Concepts “Population Development” and “Human Development”: Identities and Differences

Journal Title: Демографія та соціальна економіка - Year 2013, Vol 19, Issue

Abstract

“Population development” is often interpreted as changes in different indicators, limiting the analysis of which is a sign of staying in positions of statistical demography, which does not include the capacity for understanding the essential in the demographic. The development of population self-reproduction is primarily a change in its quality within a particular historical type, which is accompanied by the increasing complexity of socio-demographic space and time. Population development is the process of preservation of population measure as the achieved results of historical progress. When that measure is cardinally broken because of population quality decline, a demographic crises occurs which can eventually transform into a demographic disaster. The main evidence for population development is human development. Human development is treated as an integral characteristic of achievements on the path of progress and culture, as the growth of human capabilities through the use of own forces. Today, the study of human development is largely associated with the development and analysis of the human development index. The refusal to identify demographics with demographic statistics will help deepen the conceptual fundamentals of human development research as a field of knowledge which carries out not only empirical but also theoretical developments. Human development usually occurs through the satisfaction of needs, first of all the most basic ones. The set of human needs depends on the already achieved level of development: the higher it is, the more diverse are the needs. According to the essential development characteristics people can be divided at microlevel into: (a) those who are not satisfied with the basic needs, which means that there are no basic conditions for development; (b) those who have the basic necessities; and (c) those whose needs are met at the highest reasonable level, including the need for creativity. In the statistical context the development level of an average individual could be determined by the proportion of those whose reasonable needs, including higher needs, are all satisfied, that is, those who have a favorable environment for development. Thus the qualitative aspect of the demographic development could be reflected. The nature and extent of human development depends primarily on the “demographization” of all spheres of public life, that is, on their focus on the solution of demographic problems in the broadest sense. If there was such a focus in all areas of the socioeconomic policy, it would simultaneously contribute to human development, and, vice versa, human development would become the content of development in the formation of a more progressive type of population self-reproduction.

Authors and Affiliations

V. S. Steshenko

Keywords

EP ID EP287249
DOI 10.15407/dse2013.01.005
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