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.