A report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) finds the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, economic uncertainty and other crises have halted progress in human development and reversed gains made over the past three decades as 9 out of 10 countries fall backwards in human development.
The Human Development Report 2021-22, “Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World”, released September 8, says the last two years have had a devastating impact for billions of people globally. The world is lurching from crisis to crisis, trapped in a cycle of firefighting and unable to tackle the roots of the troubles that confront it. Without a sharp change of course, the world may be heading towards even more deprivations and injustices, UNDP warns.
For the first time in the 32 years, the Human Development Index (HDI) has declined globally for two years running. HDI measures a nation’s health, education, and standard of living. UNDP says human development has fallen back to its 2016 levels, reversing much of the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The reversal is nearly universal as over 90 percent of countries registered a decline in their HDI score in either 2020 or 2021 and more than 40 percent declined in both years, signaling that the crisis is still deepening for many.
Switzerland tops the 2021 HDI ranking, followed by Norway, Iceland, Hong Kong, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. Countries from sub-Saharan Africa are among the lowest ranked in human development, with Burundi, the Central African Republic, Niger, Chad and South Sudan at the bottom. The 2021 HDI ranking also shows some countries are beginning to get back on their feet, while others remain mired in deepening crises. The report finds Latin America, the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia have been hit particularly hard.
Further information
Full text: Human Development Report 2021-22: “Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World”, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), released September 8, 2022
https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf