Research focus

Mapping Human Development in Nepal:
a regional and gender-based geography of education

When UNDP published its first "Human Development Report" in 1990 they introduced a new concept of defining and measuring "human development", by including not only economic variables but also two important social indicators, namely life expectancy and literacy (for map see Bohle & Graner 1997). In order to build up data bases for different South Asian countries, the Dept. of Geography has established a section for computer cartography where data for economic and social indicators form various sources (Population Censuses, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, World Bank, UNDP &al.) are collected and where some indicators are selectively visualised in form of maps.
Yet, these data and maps also need to be interpreted and published in order to be vital tools for regional planning. Thus, this project will be systematically building up a data base for indicators of human development in Nepal, such as the Human Development Report Index (Thapa 1996), education and health, focussing on a regional and gender-based analysis. Interpretation will be based on a time sequence of secondary data (1961 onwards) but also on studies and interpretations carried out by the authors. If funding is provided, district-level data will also be complemented by village-level case-studies. The final objective is to edit an atlas which comprises of different articles from authors who have contributed to this field of research.

Maps: Human Development

Maps: Education

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