Indonesia’s Human Development Index (HDI) decreased amid stable economic growth in 2016, which indicates structural problems.
In the 2016 HDI Report, Indonesia plummeted from the 100th position to the 133rd position out of the 188 countries included in the United Nations report.
Seen from Indonesia’s HDI trajectory, the country has achieved meaningful progress since 1990 on three measured components, namely life expectancy, education and per capita income. Gross national income has increased 135.4 percent, life expectancy has increased by 5.8 years, years in education have lengthened by 4.6 years and expected years in education have increased by 2.8 years between 1990 and 2015.
Indonesia’s decreasing position on the other hand paints a picture that, amid our efforts to increase the quality of economic growth, our achievement is not on par with other countries.
Indonesia’s rank plummeted due to the unresolved development gap between urban centers and rural areas, between provinces and between islands. What is also highly evident is our gender gap, which decreased our HDI value by 18.2 percent.
In 2015, the HDI score for Indonesian men was 0.712 while the score for women was 0.66. The HDI gap was because Indonesian boys spend more time in school than girls. The average Indonesian boy spends 8.5 years in school, whereas the average Indonesian girl only spends 7.4 years. Per capita gross income for Indonesian men is US$13,391 (around Rp 178 million) compared to women’s $6,668 (around Rp 88.7 million).
As the most populous Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia provides more freedom in education and in obtaining salaried work, relative to many other Muslim nations.
Nevertheless, upon closer observation, structural gender gaps are still found. The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) in 2014 found that 365 regional regulations discriminate against women. In reality, there are still pay gaps as well as gaps in managerial positions and access to credit for women due to men’s status as heads of families. Culture is seen as a culprit.
The HDI report deserves attention as it helps us in measuring our development model and achievement. Nobody should be left behind in development, let alone women as half of our population. This is related to the government’s commitment to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to ensure that everyone has the same benefit from development.
