Bishkek, Sept. 12, 2022. / Kabar /. The United Nations Development Programme has released its global annual Human Development Report (HDR) for 2021 including Human Development Index (HDI) measuring long-term national progress on health, education, and standard of living. The Report urges the world to jolt itself out of its global paralysis and secure the future of people and planet by re-booting its development trajectory and implementing sustainable solutions to prevent gender gaps, inequality, planetary pressures, and poverty.
The report titled “Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World” argues that layers of uncertainty are stacking up and interacting to unsettle life in unprecedented ways. Back-to-back crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and skyrocketing cost of living, interacting with sweeping social and economic shifts, dangerous planetary changes, and massive increases in polarization are putting pressure on systems, institutions, and beliefs that are inadequate to meet the challenges, and in some cases, cause greater harm to humanity in the long-run.
For the first time in the 32 years, the UNDP Human Development Index, 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 ubiquitous 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. This extraordinary setback is negatively affecting almost the entire global population, including Kyrgyzstan, setting back human progress in life expectancy, education, and living standards.
“While growing inequality has been visible for a decade, this year’s Human Development Report illuminates how inequalities and uncertainty contribute to insecurity in a mutually reinforcing way. This compels countries to act with a sense of urgency to implement policies that are truly inclusive. That includes addressing basic human dignity and security, in particular universal access to income, livelihoods and fulfilment of fundamental human rights,” said Louise Chamberlain, Resident Representative of the UNDP Country Office in the Kyrgyz Republic.
The report also explores why the needed change is not happening, including how insecurity and polarization are feeding off each other, hindering the solidarity and collective action we need to tackle crises at all levels. Calculations show, for instance, that those feeling most insecure are also more likely to hold extreme political views.
To reverse the trend, the report argues, countries must redesign their paths to progress by fully accounting for the dangerous pressures that humans put on the planet and dismantling the gross imbalances of power and opportunity that prevent change for the better.
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