Measuring Human Development in the MENA Region

We aim to assess welfare improvements in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region using the Human Development Index (HDI). We obtain weighting schemes that yield the best- and worst-case scenarios for measured human development, relying on consistent tests for stochastic dominance efficiency (SDE), with the official equally weighted HDI taken as a benchmark. In the best-case scenario index, life expectancy and GDP indexes receive the highest weights for the 1975–2005 period, while the education index is the dominant contributor to the worst-case scenario in the same period. In addition, we observe a relative change in the best- and worst-case scenarios between two fifteen-year periods. The GDP index is the main contributor to the best-case scenario between 1975 and 1990, whereas the education index is the main contributor to the worst-case scenario during that period. Life expectancy is the main contributor to the best-case scenario in the 1990–2005 period, while the GDP and education indexes are the primary contributors to the worst-case scenario during that period.