• Social growth foster both economic and social development in the short and the long term, by ensuring that people enjoy income security, have effective access to health care and other social services, and are empowered to take advantage of economic opportunities.

• Social development boost-up domestic demand by supporting structural transformation of national economies, promoting decent work, and fostering inclusive and sustainable growth..

• Social development also accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

• Social Development leading to sustainable and equitable growth cannot be achieved in the absence of strong social protection policies which guarantee at least a basic level of social protection to all in need and progressively extend the scope and level of social security coverage.

• A social perspective on development emphasizes the view that inequality impairs growth and development, including poverty eradication efforts and that equity itself is instrumental for economic growth and development. It aims at providing a better understanding of the effects of economic and social policies on equity in societies and promotes ways of advancing policies contributing to the reduction of inequalities.

• During the past 20 years the share of the developing world’s populationwith access to improved sanitation facilities and water sources hasrisen substantially. East Asia and Pacific has made above-averageprogress on improving both and narrowing the gap between them,driven by a rapid expansion in access to improved sanitation from30 percent in 1990 to 66 percent in 2010.

• Europe and Central Asia has the lowest prevalence (1.5 percent) of under-weight children among developing regions, but there is substantial variation across countries..

• • Trends in developing countries over the past two decades suggest that many countries have become less unequal, but trends differ by region andby income. Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean fell notably in almost all upper middle-income countries but remains among the highest worldwide. The Gini coefficient is higher than the Latin America and the Caribbean average in only two other upper middle-income countries and in only a few low- and lower middle-income countries.

• More than 70 percent of girls in the Middle East and North Africa attend secondary school (higher than most developing countries), but labor force participation rates have stagnated at around 20 percent since 1990 (lower than most developing countries). Eight of the ten countries with the largest gap between their labor force participation rate and secondary enrollment ratio are in the Middle East and North Africa.

• The ratio of girls’ to boys’ under-five mortality rate varies across developing countries, but on average it is 0.96. East Asia and Pacific has the largest variation among developing regions.

• The service sector contributed substantially to gross domestic product(GDP) growth in many East Asia and Pacific economies in recent years, constituting nearly half of GDP and contributing 3.7 percentage pointsto an overall growth rate of 8.5 percent. Reflecting strong domestic demand, continuing growth of services is consistent with long-term trends of rising incomes in other regions. But despite recent growth, the service sector in many East Asia and Pacific economies is smaller than expected based on average income.

• GDP growth in Latin America and the Caribbean fell 1.7 percentage points from 2011 to 3.0 percent in 2012, the second largest drop among developing country regions after Europe and Central Asia, where growth fell 2.8 percentage points.

• Macroeconomic fundamentals weakened in most Middle East and North Africa countries in 2011 and 2012, as growth slowed and governments responded to social pressures with expansionary fiscal policies. High oil prices heightened current account and fiscal deficits in oil importers, especially in places where governments subsidize energy use.

• After the 2008 fiscal crisis, worldwide container shipments fell to472 million in 2009, an almost 9 percent drop from 2008, affecting all ports, operators, and countries. But shipments rebounded in2010, growing 15 percent and reaching pre-crisis levels. Most of the growth came from intercontinental shipments by developing countries.

While economic inequalities across countries have somewhat declined in recent decades, they have risen within many countries as the wealthiest individuals have become wealthier while the relative situation of people living in poverty has improved little. Disparities in education, health and other dimensions of human development remain large, despite general progress in reducing the gaps, as do inequalities between rural and urban areas and among social groups..

Youth, older persons, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and migrants, among other social groups, face particular disadvantages and barriers that preclude the full participation of individuals within them in social, economic and political life. Women and girls in these groups encounter even greater disadvantages than men.

Developing countries, in particular low-income groups, face huge investment needs and infrastructure challenges. It is estimated that some $1.6-2.5 trillion investment in power, transport, telecommunication and water and sanitation is needed annually by developing countries between 2015 and 2030.

The socio-economic alleviation of the nation’s poor are mostly concentrated in the west where 35-45 per cent of the population is poverty-stricken with 59 per cent of the population living on less than $2.00 (PPP) a day. According to the World Bank’s 2010 report, 96.3 per cent of the population lives below $5 (PPP) a day.

In 67 years, literacy in India has gone from a paltry 12 per cent to 74.04 per cent (2011). It took more than half a century for India to drag the literacy rate to this number. Even then, there is a staggering gender and regional disparity in literacy levels, where only 65.46 per cent of women, and 82.14 per cent of men are literate. Whilst Tripura has 93.91 per cent literacy, Bihar is stuck at an abysmal 63.8 per cent. This number is even lower for women in Bihar.

Almost 68 per cent of the country is rural, yet the other 32 per cent is always in the news. In fact, the very perception of “development” is narrowly based on what constitutes benefits urban India can have rather than the benefits accrued to rural India.

In women’s entrepreneurship, rural India is fairly intolerant of women’s economic empowerment. Steps have been made in the direction through government schemes, yet there are cultural hindrances to bringing businesses to women and helping them develop skills to start their own. As economic empowerment of rural women can only come with their political and social empowerment hence, it is essential to utilize their untapped potential to enable up-liftment of their social conditions.

65 per cent of rural India still does not have access to sanitation, a problem more compounded for women, as they have special hygiene needs. In urban India, this number is 12 per cent, where the problem is largely confined to semi-urban regions and slums.

Indian healthcare is painfully insufficient in delivering quality and timely care to its people. With only 7.0 physicians and 17.1 midwives/nurses for every 10,000 patients, there simply aren’t enough health professionals in a nation with increasing population and decreasing environmental health. The availability of good physicians and trained nurses for rural India is even lower, bringing the quality of their collective health down. Common problems are left untreated for long until they become too expensive to bother with. Preventative healthcare is all but absent, where something as basic as accessibility is a task.