Human development and data envelopment analysis: A structured literature review

• DEA can be an excellent tool to help in the analysis of issues related to human development.
• Construction of composite index and evaluation of quality of life efficiency are scopes of the papers.
• A considerable range of analyses can be achieved by integrating DEA with other techniques.
• Despite the substantial use of health and education, the most used dimension was the economic one.

Given the importance the concept of productive efficiency has on analyzing the human development process, which is complex and multidimensional, this study conducts a literature review on the research works that have used the data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure and analyze the development process. Therefore, we researched the databases of Scopus and Web of Science, and considered the following analysis dimensions: bibliometrics, scope, DEA models and extensions used, interfaces with other techniques, units analyzed and depth of analysis. In addition to a brief summary, the main gaps in each analysis dimension were assessed, which may serve to guide future researches.