The Evaluation of the Sustainable Human Development: A Cross-Country Analysis Employing Slack-Based DEA

This study utilizes Data Envelopment Analysis to assess the sustainable human development of 115 high and middle income countries which are divided into three groups based on their income, including 44 high income countries, 40 upper middle income countries and 31 lower middle income countries in 2008. Human development is measured by four indictors including gross national income per capita, life expectancy, mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling. In addition, the resources are measured by three indicators including carbon dioxide emission per capita, electric power consumption per capita and energy use per capita. The findings reveal that Croatia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland can utilize the minimum resources to achieve their current human development level, give them the highest opportunity to achieve the sustainable human development among high income countries. Among upper middle income countries, Angola, Colombia, Gabon, Panama and Peru have the highest opportunity to achieve the sustainable human development due to their 100 percent efficiency in utilizing their resources. Finally, Albania, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Philippines, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Zambia are more likely to achieve the sustainable human development than any other lower middle income countries. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.