| Ilocos
Norte exhibited significant strides in enabling its people to experience a relatively
better quality of life as reflected by a marked increase in its Human Development Index
(HDI). According to the Report on the 1997 Philippine Human Development Index released by
the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), Ilocos Norte’s HDI of 0.644 in
1997 was highest among the provinces in the region, consequently improving its national
rank from 12th in 1994 to 9th in 1997. The HDI is a measure of human development
performance of a country or province. It focuses on three indicators: health as measured
by life expectancy; education as measured by the combined elementary and secondary
enrollment rate and functional literacy rate; and income as measured by real per capita
income.
Ilocos region in general, showed progress in its human development efforts as indicated
by the increases in the HDIs of three of its four provinces during the period 1994-1997.
The HDIs of Ilocos Norte rose from 0.617 in 1994 to 0.644 in 1997, Ilocos Sur, from 0.597
to 0.615, and Pangasinan, from 0.598 to 0.611. La Union, on the other hand, maintained its
HDI of 0.617. The improvement in the quality of life in Ilocos Norte, however, was faster
(4.4%) compared to Ilocos Sur (3.0%) and Pangasinan (2.2%).
The improvement in Ilocos Norte’s HDI was largely accounted for by increases in
its income (0.290 to 0.351) and life expectancy indices (0.711 to 0.731). Ilocos Sur and
Pangasinan’s improvement was hastened by the increases in both their education and
life expectancy indices. Ilocos Sur’s education index improved from 0.827 to 0.856,
while that of Pangasinan increased from 0.869 to 0.884. Life expectancy for both provinces
Source: National Statistical Coordination
Board
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LEGEND: I. N.- Ilocos Norte; I. S. - Ilocos Sur; L. U. - La Union; Pang - Pangasinan
Source: National Statistical
Coordination Board
slightly increased from 0.669 to
0.693 for Ilocos Sur, and from 0.701 to 0.724 for Pangasinan.
On the other hand, La Union’s life expectancy and education indices rose from
0.711 to 0.731 and 0.870 to 0.875, respectively, while its income index decreased from
0.271 to 0.245.
By component index, residents
of Pangasinan were relatively better off in education among the four provinces, as
indicated by the higher education index. The people of Ilocos Norte and La Union, on the
other hand, enjoyed better health as shown by their higher life expectancy. Ilocos Norte,
however, was better off economically among these provinces.
Using the UNDP criteria in classifying countries based on the HDIs, all of the
provinces in the Ilocos Region were comparable to countries with medium human development
(HDI value of between 0.500 and 0.799). An HDI value of 0.800 and above is considered to
be high while an HDI value of below 0.500 is considered low. Overall, human development in
the Philippines based on the 1997 HDI of 0.625 is considered medium.
Region I Human Development Index, by Province
1994 and 1997
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