Ninety per cent of the world’s countries have regressed in human development due to multiple crises over the last 12 months, continuing the downward trend from the year before, according to the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report 2021/2022.
Published on Thursday (8 September), the report takes stock of human development throughout the world, including health, education, gender equality, and pressing issues like food and energy security. Entitled ‘Uncertain Times, Unsettled LIves: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World, it warns we could be heading for disaster unless change is enacted.
“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 us…layers of uncertainty are stacking up and interacting to unsettle life in unprecedented ways,” a press release states.
It continues that the last two years have had a devastating impact on billions of people around the world, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in Albania, the 2019 earthquake. These events have interacted with sweeping social and economic shifts, dangerous planetary changes and massive changes in polarisation, the report notes.
For the first time in the 32 years since the UNDP began measuring the world’s human development, including health, education and living standards, it has declined globally for two years in a row. It is currently back at 2016 levels, reversing half a decade of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
In short, we are dying earlier, are less well educated, have lower incomes, and are more at risk than ever before.
“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,” says Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.
“We are collectively paralysed in making these changes. In a world of uncertainty, we need a renewed sense of global solidarity to tackle our interconnected, common challenges.”
As for Albania ranks at number 67 in the list of the world’s countries ranked in terms of human development. This places it at the top of the high human development category but not quite in the very high human development category. However, it is still considered a developing region, along with Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.
It scored 0.796 out of a possible 1, demonstrating an increase from 2021 when it scored 0.739.
Top of the list was Switzerland with 0.962, followed by Norway, Iceland, Hong Kong, Australia and Denmark, all scoring over 0.94. South Sudan is at the tail end of the 191-strong list with 0.385 and Chad, Niger, and the Central African Republic.
“Even before COVID-19 hit, we were seeing the twin paradoxes of progress with insecurity and polarisation. Today, with one-third of people worldwide feeling stressed and fewer than a third of people worldwide trusting others, we face major roadblocks to adopting policies that work for people and the planet,” says Achim Steiner.
“Frankly speaking, the transformations we now need require us to introduce the future metrics: low carbon, less inequality, greater sustainability,” Steiner said.
The world must jolt itself out of its global paralysis to secure the future of people and the planet by re-booting its development trajectory, the UNDP notes with concern.
A significant reason for this year’s freefall is the reduction in life expectancy at a global level from 73 in 2018 to 71.4 in 2021. This, along with climate change, globalisation, political polarisation, and prevailing health problems, presents humanity with a level of uncertainty never seen before in human history.
While the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on food and energy security has not yet been calculated into this year’s index, “without any doubt, the outlook for 2022 is grim,” Steiner said.
