Development Indexes, Environmental Cost Impact, and Well-Being: Trends and Comparisons in Italy

Abstract

In 1990, the United Nations (UN) presented the Human Development Index (HDI) as a measure of human development that considers three fundamental dimensions: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable, and having a decent standard of living. This paper proposes some considerations about human well-being factors based on HDI analysis, also introducing some considerations on environmental pollution. As regards environmental issues, two different pollutants are considered together with their environmental costs: (i) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which have an impact on a global scale, and (ii) emissions from fine particulate matter, primarily having an impact on a local scale. Thus, a new index based on the external environmental costs is proposed, and two scenarios are discussed. On the other hand, as it concerns human well-being, the results of surveys among the population are used. Furthermore, other features regarding health services and demographic aspects are taken into account, too. Italy is analysed as a case study over the last three decades. Easterlin’s considerations are verified based on the variation of perceived well-being related to the changes in GDP. The Italian case study shows that despite having achieved a satisfactory HDI level, there is a wide margin for improvement from both the environmental and the well-being standpoints.

Advancing Spatiotemporal Pollutant Dispersion Forecasting with an Integrated Deep Learning Framework for Crucial Information Capture

“…ResNet is composed of basic residual blocks, as shown in Figure 1. Each basic residual block comprises a mapping section and a residual section, with the core formula shown in Equation (1).…”

“…The rapid development of industrialisation and urbanisation has led to an increased focus on the dispersion of atmospheric pollutants as a key research topic in the field of environmental sustainability [1,2]. The dispersion of pollutants exhibits dynamic complexity in time and space and is influenced by a variety of interrelated factors.…”