Factors Affecting the Human Development Index in Southeast Asia

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the associations between the human development index and economic growth, energy use, trade openness, carbon dioxide emissions, and urbanization in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam between 1991 and 2020 using the fixed effect and random effect models. Due to autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity issues of the fixed effect and random effect models, the feasible generalized least squares model was employed to deal with this problem. The results stated that human development of the five selected Southeast Asian countries may be supported by economic growth and urbanization. However, the relationships between human development and renewable energy consumption, trade openness, and CO2 emissions were insignificant. Finally, policies were recommended to improve the human development index for the region. First, economic growth should be encouraged because it fosters human development. Second, although the urbanization process may improve human development in the region, urbanization should be carefully considered by governments along with creating employment, strengthening education and health quality, and improving living standards for inhabitants. Finally, the nexus between human development and renewable energy consumption, trade openness, and CO2 emissions should be reassessed to carry out appropriate policies for enhancing human development in the region.