This paper presents, in a very condensed form, some parts of a study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), ‘Human development report’ (New York, Oxford University Press, 1990). UNDP developed a human development index (HDI) using the following indicators: life expectancy, literacy rate, and per capita income. This article examines the performance of a select number of African countries as judged by these indicators. Africa’s life expectancy is 51 years, ranging from 42 years in Ethiopia to 69 years in Mauritius. Of the ten countries in the world with the lowest literacy rate in 1985 the top six were African. In Africa, the number of absolute poor rose between 1980 and 1985 to more than 270 million, about half of the total population. Attention is also paid to indicators such as food self-sufficiency, health services, and access to water and sanitation. A table showing the ranking of 130 countries according to the human development index concludes the paper. Notes, ref.
