Human development pillars

Get the right experience for you. Please select your location and investor type.

◀ Back

What are the human development pillars and why invent your own?

The United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) was created ‘to emphasise that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone’. The Index works well as a high-level measure and countries that score well on it genuinely do tend to be delivering for their citizens, and vice versa. However, like all metrics it has its limits. Many companies that we think are sustainable don't map directly to the United Nations Human Development Index, so we have thought about how it could be expanded.

Looking at many different sources, we have determined ten broad pillars that we think capture the essence of human development in a more thorough way. We believe the companies we invest in should all be contributing to at least one of these in a meaningful way.

These pillars cover a range of areas that we think are central to human development and quality of life for people around the world, particularly in developing countries. While many of the contributions that our companies are making are not ground breaking, they are no less powerful or important to sustainable human development.

It is the essential medicines in Bangladesh, the first time mortgages in India, the gas cookers in rural China and the safe low-toxicity paint in India that are helping and will continue to help hundreds of millions of people in developing countries to live longer, better and healthier lives.

Portfolio Explorer

Our Portfolio Explorer tool allows you to explore strategies, companies, countries and sustainability issues of interest in four views – map, human development pillars, climate solutions and Sustainable Development Goals.