On the roles of education and health in sustainable development

Abstract

The level of development of a country is generally measured using composite indicators, reflecting the dimensions that are considered to be important to measure that level. The Human Development Indicator (HDI), created in the United Nations (UN) Development Programme, as early as the 1990s, is, among those indicators, eventually the best known. As is known, the HDI considers that, in addition to economic wealth, education and health are crucial aspects to assess the level of development of a country. The focus placed on people, since the beginning of the creation of HDI, to measure development became even more evident in the UN’s 2030 sustainable development goals (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/; accessed on March 31, 2022). In these, goal 3 is to ensure a healthy life (and well-being) at all ages, while goal 4 is to achieve a quality education. In fact, these two goals are complementary, as knowledge and a long and healthy life interact with each other, being clear that better education contributes to a healthier, therefore longer, life, and this, in turn, allows for a better level of education.