<p>This study examines how civil society shapes countries’ human development paths. It argues that when citizens participate actively in social and political life, they express a “voice” that can influence collective choices and push public policies toward greater equity and social justice. We empirically test this hypothesis using an unbalanced panel of 157 countries observed between 1950 and 2022 and find that higher levels of civil society participation are associated with more equitable access to key human development resources, leading to better core development outcomes, including lower child mortality and higher life expectancy at birth. The results confirm our key hypothesis and are robust to a wide range of robustness checks, including alternative model specifications and instrumental-variable estimations that explicitly address potential endogeneity concerns.</p>