Human development progress slows to 35-year low: UN Development Programme report

HUMAN development progress is experiencing an unprecedented slowdown according to a new report released recently by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

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The report shows how Artificial Intelligence (AI) could reignite development.

Instead of seeing sustained recovery following the period of exceptional crises of 2020-2021, the report reveals unexpectedly weak progress. Excluding those crisis years, the meagre rise in global human development projected in this year's report is the smallest increase since 1990.

The 2025 Human Development Report — 'A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)' — analyses development progress across a range of indicators known as the Human Development Index (HDI), which encompasses achievements in health and education, along with levels of income.

Projections for 2024 reveal stalled progress on the HDI in all regions across the world.

Beyond the alarming rate of deceleration in global development, the report finds widening inequalities between rich and poor countries.

As traditional paths to development are squeezed by global pressures, decisive action is needed to move the world away from prolonged stagnation on progress.

While large disparities continue to exist, the Asia-Pacific region showed some of the fastest gains in human development since 1990 to 2023, with both East Asia and the Pacific and South Asia raising their HDI value by more than 50% to 0.775 and 0.672, respectively. The HDI measures the average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.