The measurement of human development using the Ward method of cluster analysis

Abstract

The Human Development Index is one of the methods how to measure human development. It measures the level of human development both in the economic and social field. Human development is studied at the national level in most cases, yet it might be used at the regional level of a country, too. The objective of the article is to describe the potential for human development in the NUTS II regions of the Visegrad Group Plus countries (the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria and Slovenia) using the cluster analysis. The research was carried out in the period from 2004 to 2013. Initially, a research hypothesis regarding the dynamization of the human development processes in most of the regions was set, moving from a lower to a higher development potential within three groups. This hypothesis was verified by a hierarchy cluster analysis in the Ward method and was not confirmed.

Keywords

• cluster analysis
• GDP per capita
• human development
• life expectancy at birth
• lifelong education
• NUTS II regions