Abstract:

While economic growth is generally measured by the size of national income, the measurement of development is difficult due to the differences in the economic, political and social structures of the countries. Assessing the development levels requires the use of different indicators from humanitarian, social and cultural perpectives, in addition to economic indicators. The United Nations measures the level of development of a country by the Human Development Index. This Index includes indicators on education and health, in addition to the income of countries. In this study, Turkey’s Human Development Index and sub-index and as the years change were made to examine the factors affecting the Human Development Index. Accordingly, Turkey has made in terms of the Human Development Index and sub-index significant improvement between the years 1990-2017. The value of the Human Development Index, which was 0.579 in 1990, was 0.791 in 2017 with a 36.6% increase in 27 years. Turkey, with a Human Development Index value of 0.791 in 2017 and ranks among the countries showing high human development, 64th in 189 countries. In terms of Gross National Income, 50th is ranked, 48th for Expected Schooling Year, 111th for Average Schooling Year and 66th for Life Expectancy at Birth. In order for Turkey to increase its human development index value and become one of the countries with a high level of human development, it needs to invest in education and health, as well as income. Furthermore, the fact that the data used in the calculation are out of date negatively affects the value of the Human Development Index.

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