From the BZ editorial team
The corona pandemic and other crises have thrown back human development by five years!
The annual Human Development Index declined twice in a row for the first time since it was launched more than three decades ago, in 2020 and 2021. This was announced by the UN Development Program (UNDP) on Thursday (September 8) when the current report was presented.
The index measures average life expectancy, educational attainment and standard of living in 191 countries. The decline means “that we die earlier, are less well educated, that our incomes are falling,” said UNDP chief Achim Steiner. This leads to a widespread feeling of “despair, frustration, fear of the future”.
For decades, the “Human Development Index” had steadily increased. In 2020 it went back for the first time, in 2021 as well. According to the UN Development Program, this has undone the achievements of the previous five years. The Human Development Index is now at the 2016 level.
According to the report, the most important trigger for the decline is the corona pandemic. Political, financial and climate-related crises also contributed.
“We’ve had disasters before. We used to have conflicts too. But the current confluence of multiple crises is a major setback for human development,” Steiner said. According to the study, more than 90 percent of all countries worldwide are affected by the decline.
“We can forever describe our circumstances in statistics,” said UNDP director Achim Steiner. “The tough question we have to ask ourselves is: why are we not acting?”
The countries at a glance
▶︎ According to the new ranking, Switzerland is the most developed country in the world with an index value of 0.962, almost on a par with Norway and Iceland.
▶︎ Germany comes to 0.942, ranks ninth and thus loses five places compared to 2015.
︎ In the first edition in 1990, the USA was still in the lead, now they only come in 21st place.
︎ Niger, Chad and South Sudan are at the bottom of the 191 countries examined.
“We live in very painful times, whether it’s a world underwater, without water, on fire or in the midst of a pandemic,” said UNDP Director Steiner. “The world lurches from crisis to crisis, caught in the cycle of putting out fires without addressing the roots of our problems,” the UNDP warned.
