Book excerpt: Reflections on Human Development explores a new development paradigm whose central focus is human well-being. Increases in income are treated as essential means, but not as the end of development - and not as the sum total of human life. The book discusses development policies and strategies that link economic growth with human lives in various societies. It also analyses the evolution of a new human development index as a far more comprehensive measure of socio-economic progress than the traditional measure of gross national product. For the first time, a political freedom index is presented, too.