[The contribution of vulnerability to determining the human development index: studying Santa Catarina State, Brazil].

The concept of Human Development is grounded on the assumption that progress should not be measured just in economic terms, but must also encompass other social, cultural and political characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to assess the relationship between vulnerability and human development, proposing an approach for attaining the fourth and fifth Millennium Goals, based on a study of municipalities in Santa Catarina State, Brazil. The data were taken from the Human Development Atlas published in Portuguese by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Brazil during 2000(1) and Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE . After a superficial analysis of this State, all the municipalities were analyzed in greater detail through the Municipal Human Development Index (HDI-M) ratings for their vulnerability indicators and components. The HDI-M ratings were scored by vulnerability variables, described in quartiles for each HDI-M. The HDI proved useful for the general description of the conditions in this State and distinguishing groups of municipalities. When broken out into groups, some indicators showed significant inequalities.