would like to thank Rogelio Madrueño, Rafael Domínguez and two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions. We also gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Aid Agency (AECID). The views expressed in this paper, however, remain solely those of the authors.

Using a methodology similar to that proposed by Barro & Sala-i-Martin (1995), it is found that, in the period 1990-2006, there was strong convergence among state-level life expectancy series, but a distancing in life expectancy in the Mexican Republic compared with more developed countries, especially during the new millennium. The interior convergence had taken place at the expense of the exterior; that is, not so much as a result of an improvement in living conditions in the poorer states, but more due to the low performance of the richer states. The causes of this situation are explained using the concept of 'epidemiological transition'.

This paper presents a new approach to knowledge management and shows a relationship between human development and knowledge management in different countries. This study demonstrates the idea that the growth of countries depends on how each one manages their knowledge; investing in research and development, improving their production function and obtaining a welfare state which allows people to develop better their human capabilities. Our study includes an analysis of different organizations of countries: European Union, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), G-20, Cairns, Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Mercosur, BRIC and Next-11 (N-11). We identified five factors in the study using a rotated component matrix, which explained more than the 69.85% of the data: (1) knowledge creation potential; (2) ICT productivity; (3) knowledge internationalization; (4) research results and (5) education motorway. This paper provides an interesting focus on knowledge management and human development and our results show important links between countries which manage their knowledge correctly and efficiently and their level of human development. In consequence, countries that correctly manage their knowledge present a high human development level.