2. What is the Local Human Development Index? In every country significant disparities exist along various criteria – between regions, sexes, rural and urban areas. For the Human Development Index to become operational, an analysis of the HDI distribution for particular countries on the regional and local level is necessary. The HDI may be a useful tool for understanding the roots of current and future social problems at a local level. It may also help in observing the effects of policies and their influence throughout several years. Attempts to disaggregate and calculate the HDI were taken in many countries (Akder 1994; Ivanov & Peleah 2011), but the proposed method of calculating the LHDI differs from the standard “disaggregated HDI” because it is focused on measuring the effects of public policies. The HDI calculated at the regional level may show the way in which different administrative units (counties and voivodeships) develop vis-à-vis the others, what the source of these differences are, what the strengths and weaknesses of these units are and what the priorities of local governments and central authorities responsible for the development at the central level should be. From this perspective, the LHDI is not about constructing a ranking of counties and voivodeships – rather the index shows how regions achieve a given LHDI value through proper asset allocation or human capital investments which enhance people’s capabilities.
2.1 Voivodeships and counties from the perspective of the development processes A region can be defined as a separate and relatively unified area, which differs from the neighbouring areas due to natural or historically-acquired features. A review of the category’s definitions shows that the term ‘region’ is used to define both areas of large territory as well as small ones, homogenous or diversified. The great diversity of territorial units existing in Europe and in the world, together with their different degree of centralization of government in different countries make it difficult to coin a universal definition for this category. The term ‘region’ includes historicallyand culturally-defined territories, areas identified by their administrative and political organisation or, quite often, by a set of economic features (Grotowska-Leder 2011). It is often the highest unit of territorial organisation in a country, regardless of its legal status. It is defined by a relatively large area and population and is economically, socially and culturally homogeneous. In these areas regional institutions implement economic, social and cultural policies reflecting the specific needs.
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