Human Development in South Asia 2001

This is the first South Asian report analysing the region's experience with globalisation. By the early 1990s all the countries in South Asia entered the globalisation process by liberalising their economies, opening up their markets, and implementing reforms to improve economic management. The results of these efforts have been uneven from one country to another, as well as within each particular country. Even where the economic growth rate has improved, human welfare in terms of education, health, or employment may have suffered. The report analyses this process from the perspective of its impact on people. It presents the experience of five South Asian countries: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The questions this report raises and tries to answer are: What has been the extent of South Asia's trade and financial integration with the world? How have the economic reform programmes fared in raising growth and improving human development? What has been the social impact of the globalisation process? Do South Asian nations have full access to the opportunities of expanded trade? Are free markets open to South Asia's poor and the unskilled?