Health and education are important aspects of development. They belong to the basic needs every development strategy tries to meet (Deolalikar, 1988). Improving the state of health and the level of education also contributes to the realisation of other developmental objectives such as economic development, labour productivity growth, responsiveness to innovation, and future orientedness. From the perspective of economic development investment in education and health care can be regarded as an investment in human capital. In turn, economic growth and development feeds back into improvements and health, education and other indicators of human development (Ranis, Stewart and Ramirez, 2000).

In this chapter the main focus is on the discussion of health-related issues. We document trends in child mortality, average life expectancy, and patterns of morbidity and health. The factors that determine developments in health are identified. In the light of these factors, we pay attention to health policies. In Chapter 7 the focus shifts to education. The following issues will be dealt with: investment in human capital, educational enrolment, literacy and educational policies. Both chapters discuss the interactions between the various aspects of development. For example, education can contribute substantially to improvements in health.

The state of health in developing countries

Quantitative indicators of the state of health

We can distinguish three main types of indicators of the state of health (Hardiman and Midgley, 1982):

1. 1. Health service indicators, such as the number of doctors, medical staff or hospital beds, or financial resources devoted to health and health care.

2. […]