London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Coronavirus pandemic may reverse human development for first time in 30 years, UN say

Coronavirus pandemic may reverse human development for first time in 30 years, UN say

Crisis will erase all progress of past six years, according to report. Six out of 10 children globally not getting education due to school closures

The novel coronavirus outbreak has starkly exposed inequalities worldwide and could set back human development for the first time since 1990, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

It said the crisis had, though, revealed the strength of collective action in the face of a common threat and urged the world to show the same force on climate change.

“The Covid-19 pandemic is unleashing a human development crisis,” the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said in a report.
Other shocks – such as the financial crisis of 2007-2009 or the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2016 – have dealt a blow but did not prevent year-on-year development gains overall, said UNDP head Achim Steiner.



Covid-19 – with its triple hit to health, education, and income – may change this trend,” he added.

Besides deaths from Covid-19, which have now topped 320,000, the crisis could indirectly mean an extra 6,000 children die each day from preventable causes in the next six months, UNDP said.

Six out of 10 children globally are not getting an education due to school closures, and with deep recessions hitting most economies, the decline in UNDP’s human development index would be equivalent to erasing all the progress of the past six years.

The decline is affecting rich and poor nations, but is expected to be far steeper in developing countries that are less able to cope with the pandemic’s social and economic fallout.

“If we fail to bring equity into the policy toolkit, many will fall further behind,” said Pedro Conceição, director of the UNDP office that produces its annual Human Development Report.

“This is particularly important for the ‘new necessities’ of the 21st century, such as access to the internet, which is helping us to benefit from tele-education, telemedicine, and to work from home,” he added in a statement.

UNDP estimated that 86 per cent of children in primary education are effectively out of school in countries with low development, because they lack the tools for web-based learning, compared with just 20 per cent in the wealthiest nations.

Expanding access to the internet in low- and middle-income countries would cost US$100 billion – about 15 per cent of the income they will lose this year and 1 per cent of the fiscal stimulus the world has committed in response to Covid-19, the report said.



“Today, this is a timely investment that would facilitate the recovery and welcome half the world’s population to some of the opportunities of the 21st century,” it added.

The same problem affects poorer households in rich countries too, with more than 300,000 students in New York City lacking access to any computer to do schoolwork, it noted.

The city sought to address by problem by distributing 175,000 laptops, iPads and Chromebooks before remote learning kicked in, and one internet provider offered some households free Wi-fi and broadband for a time.

UNDP said the coronavirus pandemic showed it was possible for people to rally together in confronting threats – a lesson that could be applied to climate change.

“If we needed proof of concept that humanity can respond collectively to a shared global challenge, we are now living through it,” the report said.




Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×