The newly launched Human Development Index report for 2023/24 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has revealed that Human Capital Development has been on constant decline since 2019.
The report showed that the path of human development progress, which shifted downwards in 2020, has remained below the pre-2019 trend, threatening to entrench permanent losses in human development gains.
The report attributed the decline to increasing deaths from violent conflicts and displacements, reaching the highest levels since World War II, rising temperatures with 2023 being the hottest temperature ever recorded, widening inequalities between countries at the bottom and countries at the top of the HDI. Other reasons, according to the report, are the rising feeling of stress, insecurity, sadness, and anxiety, which are reaching their highest levels since the Gallup surveys began.
The new analysis in the report, using data from the World Values Survey, showed that only half of the global population feels in control of their lives, and that only one-third of people believe that their voice is heard in their political system.
It further pointed out that for Nigeria, while HDI value has moved upward by 22 per cent between 2003 and 2022, the human development remains low at 0.548, placing the country in a low human development category.
The Human Development Report (HDR) called for the need to change course, otherwise the world may not recover from the decline in human progress, warning that the repercussion of not changing course and removing the gridlock will be seen in additional lives that will be lost, in opportunities that will be forgone, and in feelings of despair.
To change course, the report emphasised the need to capitalise on local and global connections, choosing cooperation over conflict. It said: “The report is an invitation to re-imagine cooperation by pursuing three ideas that it encourages the world to fight for. These include taking steps to lower tensions and push back on the divide hindering cooperation.”
The UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, Elsie Attafuah, while speaking at the official launch of the report in Abuja, noted that the Human Development Report provided analysis to show that the solutions to the problems are within our grasp, especially by re-imagining cooperation and uniting for a better world we can address shared challenges and make progress towards.
