RT Generic T1 Human development in Africa : a long-run perspective A1 Prados de la Escosura, Leandro A2 Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Historia Económica e Instituciones, AB Long-run trends in Africa’s well-being are provided on the basis of a new index of human development, alternative to the UNDP’s HDI. A sustained improvement in African human development is found that falls, nonetheless, short of those experienced in other developing regions. Within Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa has fallen steadily behind the North since mid-20th century. Human development improvement is positively associated to being coastal and resource-rich and negatively to politicaleconomy distortions. Contrary to the world experience, in which life expectancy dominated, education has driven progress in African human development during the last half-a-century and, due to the impact of HIV/AIDS on life expectancy and the arresting effect of economic mismanagement and political turmoil on growth, advances in human development since 1990 have depended almost exclusively on education achievements. The large country variance of the recovery during the last decade suggests being cautious about the future’s prospects YR 2011 FD 2011-09 LK http://hdl.handle.net/10016/12087 UL http://hdl.handle.net/10016/12087 LA eng NO European Community's Seventh Framework Program NO Financial support from the European Report on Development and the HI-POD Project, Seventh ResearchFramework Programme Contract no. 225342 DS e-Archivo RD 27 abr. 2024