Territorial disparities of the Human Development Index in the North Development Region of the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

Human development is a component part of the development of socio-economic, natural-geographical systems. Currently, the need for comparative studies of human development appears increasingly imperative, in an attempt to track the level reached by states, regions or urban and rural human habitats within them, with the goal of evaluating the effectiveness of development policies applied by governments or regional and local administrations, beyond certain indicators or statistical series that attest to certain aspects of human development. Through this study, we proposed the calculation of the HDI at the level of human habitats of the North Development Region of the Republic of Moldova, with the expansion of the number of indicators taken into account, compared to the indicators taken into account by the UNDP in the calculation of the HDI of the states. This fact would allow a more accurate radiography of human development at the locality level. The purpose of this study is to estimate and determine the spatial differences of the Human Development Index (HDI) in the localities of the North Development Region in the context of the implementation of the Regional Development Strategy of the Republic of Moldova and the intention of European integration of the country. The main results of the study consist in the creation of a valuable cartographic set with reference to the four dimensions of human development, as well as the map of the aggregate index of human development related to the human habitats of the region, a typology that can serve as a benchmark in the agrumentation of territorial, administrative and financial decentralization which is to be implemented. The main methods used in the study: comparative, statistical, direct standardization, mathematical, the GIS system. The HDI study of the North RD includes 315 urban and rural localities within the region, through four dimensions that attest the level of human development and 12 indicators (values), these being related to the habitats of primary rank: communes and villages of their composition.