Economies must jolt out of global paralysis as nations fall back in human development: UN

• Efforts are needed to reboot development trajectory
• Cautions that without sharp change of course, world could head towards even more deprivations and injustices
• Says immediate relief tactics are delaying long-term systemic changes
• HDI has declined globally for two years in a row
• Calls on nations to double down on human development and look beyond improving people’s wealth or health

The eruption of recurrent episodes of crisis across the world has resulted in nine out of 10 countries to fall backwards in terms of human development and the economies must jolt themselves out of the global paralysis to secure the future of people and planet by rebooting the development trajectory.

Without a sharp change of course, the world may be heading towards even more deprivations and injustices, the UN said in its latest Human Development Report. The latest edition is themed ‘Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World’.

The last two years have had a devastating impact for billions of people around the world, when crises like COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine hit back-to-back and interacted with sweeping social and economic shifts, dangerous planetary changes and massive increases in polarisation, the report highlighted.

 “The world is scrambling to respond to back-to-back crises. We have seen with the cost of living and energy crises that, while it is tempting to focus on quick fixes like subsidising fossil fuels, immediate relief tactics are delaying the long-term systemic changes we must make,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. 

“We are collectively paralysed in making these changes. In a world defined by uncertainty, we need a renewed sense of global solidarity to tackle our interconnected, common challenges,” Steiner added. 

For the first time in the 32 years that the UNDP has been calculating it, the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures a nation’s health, education and standard of living, has declined globally for two years in a row. 
Human development has fallen back to its 2016 levels, reversing much of the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. 

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, signalling that the crisis is still deepening for many. 
The report pointed out that while some countries are beginning to get back on their feet, recovery is uneven and partial, further widening inequalities in human development. Latin America, the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have been hit particularly hard. 

To navigate uncertainty, the governments need to double down on human development and look beyond improving people’s wealth or health, said UNDP’s Pedro Conceição, the report’s lead author. 

“These remain important. But we also need to protect the planet and provide people with the tools they need to feel more secure, regain a sense of control over their lives and have hope for the future,” he said.