Country Support Team in Europe & CIS

Human Development Reports - New EU Countries

2001-2002 NHDR Slovak Republic

The Slovak National Human Development Report, prepared by the Centre for Economic Development (CPHR) in conjunction with experts working for NGOs, the government, academia, and the international sector, focuses on human health. The report defines the strengths and shortcomings of the health sector, and formulates a framework for the gradual improvement of health parameters. Its goal is to increase public awareness of health issues and preventative measures, and highlight the role of both the individual and society in improving public health. The report attributes the unsatisfactory health condition of the Slovak population to an ineffective health care system, and to an unhealthy lifestyle, in particular, an increase in tobacco consumption, unhealthy dietary habits, and worsened social conditions. Contributing to the population’s ill health is a crisis in the health sector. mainly in accessibility of care, quality of services, poor financial sustainability of the system, and rampant corruption. The report ascertains that health "recovery" requires better public access to health risks-related information, and more effective information on preventative health measures. Health care reform must improve the quality of health services, and bring systematic changes in health care financing, and in organizational and institutional accountability. But most importantly, responsibility for one's own health must improve, requiring targeted assistance to vulnerable groups of the population.

The Hungarian National Human Development Report, prepared by the Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Science, focuses on the issue of poverty and poverty assistance. The economic growth of the 1990s failed to eliminate the huge disparities in living conditions within Hungarian society. In fact, inequalities increased between the highest and lowest income groups. The report indicates that despite joining several international initiatives to combat poverty, no comprehensive strategy for social policy has been established, and policy making has been largely ineffective. Assistance to the poor is inefficient, and leaves many important groups without provisions. A shortage of adequate financial resources seems an obvious explanation, but in the absence of a comprehensive strategy, it seems justified to ask whether poverty is a matter of political concern at all. Successive governments have expected local government authorities to alleviate poverty, yet they are simply ill-equipped to do so. The report makes clear that alleviating human poverty calls for a comprehensive social policy based on a welfare-policy concept made up of clear, consistent, and coherent principles. However, alleviating poverty in Hungary requires more information on its features and root causes, and on the holes in the welfare benefit system. 

• Hungary NHDR 2003 (English version) ;
• Hungary NHDR 2003 (Hungarian version)

2003 NHDR Czech Republic

The Czech National Human Development Report, prepared by the Center for Social and Economic Strategies of Charles University in Prague, focuses on identifying the most important problems of human development in the Czech Republic, and formulating priorities and possible methods for their solution. The solutions to those problems (and the debate surrounding them) will help successfully incorporate the Czech Republic into the mainstream of European civilization, and prepare them to face forthcoming challenges and issues..The report first reviews development tendencies in the past ten years of Czech transformation, suggesting possible development scenarios, and discussing the potential impacts of EU accession. The following chapters discuss individual areas and aspects of Czech society relating to education, social policy, public policy and administration, minorities, and the economy. These discussions result in the selection of key strategic tasks, the solutions of which could influence development perspectives of the Czech Republic in the decades to come. The tasks identified are (1) development of the population and family policy, (2) pension reform, (3) support for a knowledge society, (4) reinforcement of social cohesion and national identity, and (5) reform of the country's constitutional and political system. 

• Czech NHDR 2003 (English version)

The Slovenian National Human Development Report, prepared by the Slovenian Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (UMAD), focuses on general human development trends in 2002 and 2003, with special attention paid to health and the health care system. The report identifies trade-offs between social solidarity and individual responsibility in the health care system, emphasizing social solidarity as the key organizing principle for an effective health care system. On the other hand, the report points to the growing role of behavioral and life-style factors behind Slovenia's remaining health care challenges, indicating that health and well-being have a lot to do with individual responsibility. Furthermore, the report points to the growing role of private enterprise in the health care sector, apparent in both the growth of private health care establishments, and increasing shares of household incomes spent on supplementary insurance. This does not bode well for the poor, who do not have the income to pay for private health care services. Due to an aging population, growing shares of gross domestic product will be devoted to caring for the elderly, meaning fewer public and private sector resources will be available to meet other health care needs. The report's final aim is not to indicate how these future challenges might be met, but rather to stimulate contributions to alternative policy proposals and recommendations.

• Slovenia NHDR 2002-2003 (English version)

Avoiding the Dependency Trap, a document prepared by UNDP and the International Labour Organization (ILO), provides the first comprehensive, quantitative survey of the Roma minorities in five Central and Eastern European countries. Until now, comparative statistical information on the Roma in Central and Eastern Europe has been lacking, leading to policy making based on qualitative rather than quantitative information. The study provides national and international policy makers, academics, and representatives of civil society with accurate, reliable, and comparative statistical data—all necessary to design and implement sound policy. The survey looks at Roma realities from a "human development" perspective, examining inequalities in employment, household income, education, health, and political participation and social inclusion, with the aim of providing answers to these problems. Based on new comparative data, the report provides in-depth analysis of the systematic causes of Roma inequality. It also offers specific recommendations in selected policy areas, so that the long-term objective of policy efforts (i.e., integration of Roma people into the mainstream of society) becomes feasible. Visit http://roma.undp.sk for more.