Human Development Gap

In order to narrow the human development gap in Indonesia, the government must prioritize development in regions with a low human development index (HDI), especially Papua. At the regency level, 32 regions have a low HDI.

KOMPAS/DIDIE SW

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The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Apr. 16, that human development in Indonesia continued to progress. In 2016-2017, the country’s human development index (HDI) increased by 0.9 percent from 70.18 in 2016 to 70.81 in 2017. This means that human Indonesia’s development ranks in the high category with an index of more than 70.

However, this national achievement in human development is unbalanced between regions. In fact, interregional human development in Indonesia shows gaps. In 2017, only Jakarta attained the “very high” HDI (above 80) at 80.06. On the other hand, Papua remains the only province out of 34 provinces to possess a low HDI (below 60) with 59.09. Other provinces varied within the high (70-80) and medium (60-70) categories.

The gap between the highest and lowest HDIs (respectively Jakarta and Papua) in 2017 was 20.97 points. Meanwhile, this gap in 2016 was 21.55 points (between Jakarta’s 79.60 and Papua’s 58.05), indicating that the HDI gap among provinces is narrowing.

Nevertheless, the government must continue with its human development efforts, especially in regions with a low HDI. Without accelerated human development, these regions will continue to lag far behind regions high HDIs.

Papua may need more than 30 years to attain Jakarta’s current HDI, based on its annual HDI growth of less than 1 point. Nationally, the average annual HDI growth from 2010 to 2017 was 0.61 point, from 66.53 in 2010 to 70.81 in 2017.

The human development gap between the regions is highly disconcerting. It will be difficult for regions with a low HDI to keep pace with regions with a high HDI. A region’s low HDI reflects its population’s low capabilities. In this context, two factors affect the capability of local populations, namely education and health.

For instance, an individual in Jakarta spends on average 11.02 years in school, equivalent to attaining eleventh grade education, and has a life expectancy of 72.55 years. Meanwhile, in Papua, an individual spends on average just 6.27 years in school, or the equivalent of an elementary school education, and has a life expectancy of 65.14 years. The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) life expectancy standard is 85 years with an average 15 years of schooling, or equivalent to obtaining a junior college diploma, and an average expectancy of 18 years of schooling, or equivalent to obtaining a master’s degree.

The poor capability of people, such as in Papua, has led to difficulties in including them in financial empowerment and development programs. Despite the expanded development of adequate infrastructure, local people with low capability may not be able to participate optimally in economic and development initiatives.

Access to basic services

In order to narrow the human development gap in Indonesia, the government must prioritize development in regions with a low HDI, especially Papua. At the regency level, 32 regions have a low HDI. Most of these regencies (18 regencies) are in Papua, followed by West Papua (five regencies, East Nusa Tenggara (four), North Sumatra (three), North Maluku (one) and East Java (one).

It must be understood that a high poverty rate is not singular to a region’s low HDI. North Maluku, for instance, had a poverty rate of only 6.4 percent in September 2017, far less than the nationwide average of 10.1 percent. However, North Maluku’s HDI was 67.20, below the nationwide average of 70.81. On the other hand, Yogyakarta had a poverty rate of 12.4 percent, above the nationwide average, yet its HDI (78.89) far surpasses the nationwide average HDI.

The discrepancy between a region’s low poverty rate and low HDI, as in North Maluku, may indicate problems in two key aspects of human development, education and health, which may include access to education and healthcare services. Education and healthcare facilities are often located far from local villages, making it difficult and costly for villagers to access them.

In the most extreme cases, people in remote regions (outlying, outland, frontier and isolated) may have no access to education or healthcare. This would in turn impede the population’s efforts to improve their health and education. Their situation is a stark contrast to cities like Yogyakarta, with its easily accessible education and healthcare facilities.

Mutual reinforcement

The people’s inability to utilize education and healthcare facilities due to access difficulties has caused healthcare and education assistance to become meaningless – especially for certain poor communities. This will in turn impede their efforts to improve their education and health, and has slowed human development.

Factually, this also reaffirms that distributing social assistance packages (including education and healthcare assistance) to the poor will not be enough in itself to improve human development, especially in remote regions. The government must also prepare various means to increase accessibility to education and healthcare services. The infrastructure for basic services must be expanded and be closer to the local population. Transportation between villages and basic service facilities must also be provided.

In this context, regional governments, especially in regions with a low HDI, must prioritize human development to catch up with regions with a high HDI. This is not easy, considering the frequent tug-of-war that occurs in determining development priorities: whether to prioritize economic development to obtain later funding for human development, or to prioritize human development to boost economic development later.

The answer is that economic development and human development must be pursued in parallel to ensure that they are mutually reinforcing.

Razali Ritonga, Head of Training Center, Central Statistics Agency