Human development Index (HDI) and frequency rate of fatal occupational injuries. Are they related?

Abstract

Consequences in the human capital and society of occupational accident are cause of concern in Spain. Human development Index (HDI) is a useful measure of average achievement in key dimension of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living. Although there are many researches based in the Human Development Index, there are few researches where Human development Index and accidents rates were studied together. The aim of the study was to find a relation between Human Development Index and fatal occupational accidents in Spain. Results show that tendency of the indexes in last years are opposite. Increasing tendency of the Human Development Index happened while fatal accident rates tendency decreased. Although some years accidents rates increased lightly, the global tendency is to decrease. An improvement in the key dimensions of the human development seem to be related with the evolution of accidents data.