What is Sigma-Convergence

There is no point to disagree that inequality in recent time has come up as a growing social predicament in the world. This chapter endeavors to look into the issue of convergence in terms of per capita gross domestic product, infant mortality rate, life expectancy at birth and Human Development Index among eight member countries of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) during the time frame 1990-2013. There has been an evidence of strong absolute beta divergence in terms of per capita gross domestic product and infant mortality rate. But the beta convergence in terms of life expectancy at birth and HDI has also been empirically evidenced. Strong evidence of conditional beta divergence conditioning on infant mortality rate exists in terms of PCGDP only for the time period 1990-1995. Sigma divergence implying dispersion among the countries in terms of PCGDP and IMR has risen over time. But sigma convergence has been found to exist for LEB and HDI.