HDR 1998 - Consumption for Human Development

Undp
Additional contact information
Undp: Human Development Report Office (HDRO) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

in Human Development Report (1990 to present) from Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Abstract: The 1998 Report investigates the 20th century's growth in consumption, unprecedented in its scale and diversity. The benefits of this consumption have spread far and wide. More people are better fed and housed than ever before. Living standards have risen to enable hundreds of millions to enjoy housing with hot water and cold, warmth and electricity, transport to and from work-with time for leisure and sports, vacations and other activities beyond anything imagined at the start of this century. Yet the Report states that the benefits of this consumption have been badly distributed, leaving a backlog of shortfalls and gaping inequalities. Furthermore, ever-expanding consumption puts strains on the environment - emissions and wastes that pollute the earth and destroy ecosystems, and growing depletion and degradation of renewable resources that undermines livelihoods. The world's dominant consumers are overwhelmingly concentrated among the well-off - but the environmental damage from the world's consumption falls most severely on the poor. How do these realities relate to human development? Preoccupied with environmental sustainability, globalization of production and consumption, the Report rightly asks, after a century of vast material expansion, will leaders and people have the vision to seek and achieve more equitable and more human advance in the 21st century?

Keywords: human development; consumption; globalisation; inequality; exclusion; markets; sustainability; technology; civil society; private sector; governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A0 B4 C0 C5 D0 E0 F0 G0 H0 I0 J0 K0 L0 L3 O1 O2 O5 Q0 R0 Y1 Y8 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr1998/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hdr:report:hdr1998

Access Statistics for this book

More books in Human Development Report (1990 to present) from Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by HDRO/UNDP ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).