Human development index in a context of human development: Review on the western Balkans countries

Abstract Introduction The Human Development Index (HDI), as one of the more complex composite indicators of the level of human potential and quality of life, is a combination of three dimensions (indicators, factors): life expectancy at birth, the middle number of years of education and the expected number of years of schooling combined into a single education index and economic benefits expressed by production, or GDP (gross domestic product) according to purchasing power (PPP US $). Methods The same measures and average achievements in the field of health, education, and living standards are presented. The HDI was first developed in 1990 under the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and is published as Human Development Reports (HDR). At present, it has become the most widely used complex indicator suitable for international comparisons and assessments of the achieved development level of a particular country or region. Results The paper deals specifically with the more perspective view of human development in the Western Balkans, with a series of socio‐economic implications for the development policy of the countries under observation. Conclusion The particular significance of the conducted research stems from the fact that in the countries of the Western Balkans are identified factors at the beginning of the transition period were often marginalized in the creation of macroeconomic policies, but in recent years there have been more positive developments in that regard.


| INTRODUC TI ON
The wealth of a state is made up of people. The primary goal of development is the creation of such an environment that will enable people for a long, healthy, and creative life (UNDP, 1990). Human development is the extending process of people's choices. One can say this is a process of increasing the significance of human values.
Naturally, it is a complex phenomenon that has been seen in different aspects-demographic, cultural, political-legal, and socio-economic. Based on this phenomenon, some estimates are made of its impact on the economic and national development of the country.
The national event is in correlation with human potential. The complexity of this relationship best illustrates the view that there is no simple answer to the simple question of whether nations are rich because they are better educated or better educated because they are rich (Blaug, 1976).
The human development paradigm emphasizes two simultaneous processes: The building of human abilities and how people use them to function in society and make choices between options that they have in all aspects of their lives (UNDP, 2018a). The phenomenon of human development, which takes into account the close links between economic, social, cultural, spatial, educational, and healthcare, encompasses a safe economy, adequate nutrition, environmental protection, personal safety, community security, and broader political security. Current and future generations must be aware of their responsibilities when it comes to development. Personal and social security should be sought if it enables a decent life, in an economy where profit is distributed equally to all, and not only to a few and the environment whose fruits and pleasure can be used without fear. This concept provides a long and healthy life people.
The world is characterized by dynamic processes and significant changes in the overall social, political, economic and social environment, determining, and multiplying developmental specifics.
Positive changes result in a better opportunity for people's lives, longer life expectancy, and better education, while adverse changes create developmental problems. It is important to emphasize that development problems cannot be explained exclusively by economic indicators. The process of measuring and interpreting differences in development is a much more complex problem. Measuring growth in a new globalized world requires a shift from the economic and to the noneconomic sphere (social and society). Development indicators should give a more realistic picture of the economic progress of a particular country. Only in this way, economists will identify the underlying development problems, offering suggestions to macroeconomic policymakers how to act in certain situations.
Development is in most of its conceptual history, portrayed as the normal process of change, or as a quest for economic growth. By the beginning of the nineties, the GDP was routinely used as the only indicator of the achieved level of development. After that, a series of new signs are emerging that are more comprehensive, multi-dimensional, and from some different aspects, looking at events in the growth and development of an economy (Potter, Binns, Elliott, Nel, & Smith, 2018). Since 1990, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has been implementing a human development program by applying an approach that is not confined to national income alone but is focused on people and their ability to achieve the full potential to lead a healthy, productive and creative life. The first human development report published in 1990, "People are the real wealth of nations," began a new approach to thinking about development (Ferjan, 2014). To date, 26 Human Development Reports (HDRs) have been published, which are the result of the calculation of the Human Development Index (HDI) for each country, based on which the ranking of countries in the world is carried out. The HDI is a widely cited statistic that is commonly used as a measure of well-being in different countries (Engineer, King, & Roy, 2008).
In this paper is presented perspective view of human development in the Western Balkans, with a series of socio-economic implications for the development policy of the countries under observation. The main significance of the research stems from the fact that in the countries of the Western Balkans are identified factors at the beginning of the transition period were often marginalized in the creation of macroeconomic policies, but in recent years there have been more positive developments in that regard.

| ME THODOLOGY
Analyzing the entire spectrum of indicators in HDI assesses progress in achieving many aspects of human development (Republicki zavod za razvoj, 2007). According to the UNDP methodology, in the period from 1990, when it officially began to apply, and until 2010, the HDI contained a combination of three different indicators: 1. General quality of life, expressed by the expected duration of life; 2. Literacy, measured by a combination of two indicators: the literacy rate of the adult population (weighted by 2/3 significance) and the total enrollment rate in primary, secondary, and higher education (weighted by 1/3 of the character); 3. The standard of living, that is, economic benefits expressed by production, that is, GDP (gross domestic product) in terms of purchasing power (PPP US $). The analysis of purchasing power parity allows seeing the differentiation in purchasing power between countries by eliminating differences in the price level. It is most commonly used in international comparisons of GDP and its components. The program of monitoring and comparison of purchasing power parity purchasing power at the international level is under the responsibility of EUROSTAT's statistics, which publish annually the Purchasing Power Parities Report (https://ec.europa. eu/euros tat/web/purch asing -power -parities) for a period of three years, including by comparing and comparing the prices for about 3,000 comparative and representative products that enter the composition of GDP of the OECD countries, based on which the relative price level of each state is determined in relation to the OECD average. The above three indicators, used to calculate HDI, are available in almost all international statistical anniversaries and relate to the quality of life achieved in terms of life expectancy, literacy and accessibility of the school system to the individual. Conducting these three indicators to one common measure is done by setting a minimum, equal to "0" and a maximum, equal to 1 for each dimension.
Each of these indicators is weighted with the relative share in the total number of signs. A set of weighted indicators creates a complex HDI and determines the position for each country on a scale of 0-1 (0 < HDI > 1).
Hence, HDI is a simple arithmetic mean of all three primary indices: where I 1 represents the life expectancy index, I 2 education index, and All three primary indices are standardized according to the principle.
where "I" represents the actual value in the country.
The minimum and maximum values of individual indices are listed in Table 1.
By 2010, all the countries of the world were classified into one of three groups, which indicate the level of human development achieved: • 0.00 < HDI < 0.50 -low level of human development; • 0.50 < HDI < 0.80 -medium level of human development; • 0.80 < HDI < 1.00 -high level of human development, and now they are classified into the following groups: • 0.00 < HDI < 0.55 -low level of human development; • 0.55 < HDI < 0.70 -medium level of human development; • 0.70 < HDI < 0.80 -high level of human development and • 0.80 < HDI < 1.00 -very high level of human development (http:// www.hdr.undp.org/sites/ defau lt/files/ 2018_human_devel op-ment_stati stical_update.pdf).
The purpose of calculating the HDI is to rank global economies by the level of HDI and to compare such a ranking with those that are exclusively based on the GDP per capita (PPP US $). Three cases are possible: 1. If the HDI rank is close to GDP per capita (PPP US $) ranking, it means there is a harmony between existing resources and development results.
2. If the HDI rank is higher than the GDP per capita (PPP US $) rank, it means that these areas have used their potentials in the best possible way, that is, development policy is in the function of the entire population.
3. If the HDI rank is lower than the GDP per capita (PPP US $) rank, it means that the allocation of resources in the best possible way; that is, their policy of development is not in the function of the en-

Max. (detected values)
Health Changing the calculating methodology of the "access to knowledge" indicator was necessary because a number of countries, especially those at the top of the HDI scale, reached high levels of combined gross enrollment and adult literacy rates, which made the relevance of these indicators weaker, and new indicators better reflected the concept of education rather than the previous and more precisely indicate the differences between the countries. The lack of past and present indicators of "access to knowledge" is that neither one nor the others assess the quality of education.
The living standard as the third indicator of HDI has changed and is now measured by the gross national income per capita expressed in constant international dollars for 2011 converted using the purchasing power parity rate-GDP per capita (PPP US $). GDP does not reflect the available national income (some profits may be repatriated abroad, some residents of the country receive remittances from abroad, and in some cases, financial assistance entering the country can be significant), and GDP adjusts GDP for these factors and, therefore, is better a measure of the country's income level.
According to the previous method, the HDI was calculated as the mean arithmetic value of the dimension indicator, allowing the substitution among the dimensions, so that high achievements in other sizes could offset the more unfortunate results in one aspect. A multiplicative aggregation method is now in use, where aggregations are made using the geometric mean value of dimension indicators, which reduces the level of interchangeability between dimensions and ensures that a reduction of 1% in, for example, the GDP per capita (PPP US $) has the same impact on the HDI as a 1% drop in education or life expectancy.
HDI calculation is done in two steps. The first step is to create a dimension indicator. The dimension indicators that are measured in different units are transformed into a scale with no groups ranging from 0 to 1, by setting the minimum and maximum values for each indicator, which are also listed in Table 1.
The UNDP experts' team in selecting the lowest value indicators has been guided by the principle of survival or "natural zero" below which there is no chance for human development. Maximum values are the highest values in the observed time series .
The dimension indicators are calculated as follows (Klugman, Rodríguez, & Choi, 2011): To ensure the highest level of comparability among countries, the HDI is based on international data which for the following types of indicators: • Life expectancy at birth: United Nations Department of Economic Report 2018 with values and ranks from previously published reports by 2010 is not recommended, due to changed methodology, revision, and updating of primary data and adjustment of limit values.
In the latest Human Development Report 2018, the HDI indices for the period 1990-2017 comprise the compilation of data between countries, as well as tracking trends from the previous period.
The latest HDI and ranking data are based on consistent indicators, methodology and time series data, which provide an overview of real changes in values and ranking over time, reflecting the real shift that the countries have made. The HDI's trends present essential facts at the national, regional, and global levels, highlighting substantial differences both in welfare and in life opportunities among countries over the years.
The HDI value, ranging from 0 to 1, shows the country that has reached that country's reach to its maximum value, which allows comparisons with other countries. The difference between the achieved and the maximum possible HDI value is aimed at showing the shortcomings of that country, with the challenge for each state to find ways to reduce these deficiencies, that is, to bring them as close as possible to the maximum value.
Although HDI is an indicator that ranks countries toward the level of human development, it will correctly never include social development in its full sense (Kovacevic, 2011).
There is no need for an Ethical approval in this study since there are no human participants.

| ANALYS IS OF HD I TRENDS IN THE PERI OD 1990 -2 017
Comparing the HDI values by years (1990,2000,2010,2012,2014,2015,2016   There is a biological limit of life expectancy, and years of schooling and enrollment rates cannot grow unlimited, while income is the only integral part of the HDI that could continue to grow, but revenue growth slows down as the economy mature. It is important to note that the amount of 75,000 dollars per capita has been designated as an upper limit because it has been demonstrated that it practically does not benefit from human development and well-being from annual income per capita above $ 75,000 (Kahneman & Deaton, 2014).   (Alkire & Santos, 2010).
One of the major threats to social development is a long-term vulnerability. If we remove the causes of weakness, then everyone will be able to participate in advancement, which will make social development more just and sustainable (UNDP, 2014).
Despite these challenges, countries in these regions have recovered from the losses caused by these factors. Table 6 shows the annual HDI growth in the world and by the groups of countries. It is noted that the countries that belong to the Low Human Development group had the highest increase.
Observing the increase in HDI ranking by countries in the

| Trends of HDI country index in the Western Balkans
In this part of the paper, a comparative analysis of the HDI of the Their HDI is below the average for the specified group of countries to which they belong. Serbia, Albania, Bosnia, and Herzegovina have HDI above the average for that group of countries to which they belong, while FYR Macedonia has HDI which is the same as the average for this group of countries (Table 7).
Croatia has the highest HDI value (0.838), which ranks 46th out of the total number of 189 countries for which the index is mea- that is to say, Croatia in the ranking list. In a study by Konya and Guisan, it has been confirmed that some underdeveloped countries have managed to increase the value and ranking of HDI concerning individual developed countries (Konya & Guisan, 2008).  Montenegro is in the 50th position according to HDI (0.814).
From the observed group of countries, it is found in all indicators be-  (Table 8).

Based on the above analysis of HDI countries in the Western
Balkans, we can conclude that inequality in income is generally higher than inequality in education and life expectancy. Similar conclusions were reached by Grimm, Harttgen, Klassen, and Misselhorn in a 2008 survey (Grimm, Harttgen, Klasen, & Misselhorn, 2008). In the 1980s and 1990s, the Western Balkan countries, sometime later, started the process of transition. The collapse of the socialist system and the economic planning process left great consequences for the group of countries mentioned. The development implied the implementation of reforms that are, among other things, linked to macroeconomic stability (Đorđević & Veselinović, 2010 The experiences of the developed countries point to the conclusion that, in addition to economic stability and growth in production, the requirement of faster economic development is an improvement of the conditions of education and literacy of the adult population (Kulić, Milačić, & Đurić, 2015). Knowledge is a mechanism for raising people from poverty, increasing living standards and promoting economic growth (UN, 2017). Modern society is changing, and education, therefore, needs to be focused on meeting new needs and challenges (Martin, 2016).

| D ISCUSS I ON
Because of the importance of education, many poorer countries have to find ways to adjust their budgets to allocate more money for education. In the absence of their resources, they must turn to international sources (Tostensen, 2007). UNICEF, UNDP, and UNESCO have limited resources to distribute this type of assistance, and therefore are unable to change the modus operandi of their consultants significantly. Insufficiency and lack of education is a severe problem for human development as a whole because it limits the potential for community growth in the income and education dimensions of the HDI.
Thus, poverty reduction, modernization of health infrastructure, improvement in investment in education, increased information literacy rate, stable economic growth are all factors that need to be done to enable better and faster human development, which will result in the growth of HDI (RESI, 2018).

| CON CLUS ION
The concept of human development had not changed since 1990 when it was also defined in the first Human Development Report.
It has remained focused on the lives, freedoms, and abilities of people. The success in the advancement of human development must be seen through the lives of people living and the skills they is not a minor result given the crisis year at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century.
All the countries of the Western Balkans have a permanent and mild, but also a continuous increase in HDI indicators, which will lead to further progress in human development. In order to ensure the comprehensive growth of all HDI components, the countries of the Western Balkans must continue to adopt global strategies and laws, realistic action plans, roadmaps for their implementation and the use of knowledge that encompasses a set of skills, competencies, and interests aimed at expanding people's choices and general welfare.

CO N FLI C T O F I NTE R E S T
None declared.

AUTH O R CO NTR I B UTI O N
Boban Dasic did data analysis, Zeljko Devic did analysis, Nebojsa

PEER R E V I E W
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publo ns.com/publo n/10.1002/brb3.1755.

DATA AVA I L A B I L I T Y S TAT E M E N T
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.