The global human development index is a UN measure of global “progress” for how societies are improving. However, for the first time ever owing to the effects of COVID-19, it is going to fall according to CNBC News.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has warned the coronavirus pandemic is “unleashing a human development crisis,” with declines in fundamental areas of living standards expected to be felt across most countries, rich and poor, in every region.
The report, published on Wednesday, estimates that global human development — which is a combined measure of the world’s education, health and living standards — is on pace to decline for the first time since the concept was developed in 1990.
In some areas, the UNDP said conditions today were equivalent to levels of deprivation last seen in the mid-1980s.
“For vast swathes of the globe, the pandemic will leave deep, deep scars,” Achim Steiner, the UNDP’s administrator, said in the report.
“Without support from the international community, we risk a massive reversal of gains made over the last two decades, and an entire generation lost, if not in lives then in rights, opportunities and dignity,” he added.
To date, more than 5 million people have contracted the coronavirus worldwide, with 328,368 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
‘Widening and persistent inequality’
A global public health crisis has meant countries have effectively had to shut down, with many world leaders imposing stringent restrictions on the daily lives of billions of people.The lockdown measures, which vary in their application but broadly include school closures, bans on public gatherings and social distancing, are expected to result in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression in the 1930s. (source)
This is not a good sign. It does not matter if one likes or hates the UN. The fact is that the world situation is getting worse, and this is the beginning of a MAJOR global decline towards war.
One should not celebrate this, as it is a harbinger of many bad things to come.