Human development to decline this year for the first time in 30 years | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
July 05, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JULY 05, 2025
Human development to decline this year for the first time in 30 years

Coronavirus chronicle

TBS Report
21 May, 2020, 10:45 am
Last modified: 21 May, 2020, 12:55 pm

Related News

  • Bagerhat upazila hospitals crippled by lack of Covid test kits amid nationwide spike
  • 10 more Covid-19 cases reported in country
  • 'History will not forgive' failure to seal pandemic deal: WHO chief
  • China marks muted 5th anniversary of first Covid death
  • Another pandemic is inevitable, and we're not ready

Human development to decline this year for the first time in 30 years

Determined, equity-focused interventions can help economies and societies rally, mitigating the far-reaching impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic

TBS Report
21 May, 2020, 10:45 am
Last modified: 21 May, 2020, 12:55 pm

Global human development, measured as a combination of the world's education, health and living standards, could decline this year for the first time since the concept was introduced in 1990, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warned on May 20.

UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said, "The world has seen many crises over the past 30 years, including the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09. Each has hit human development hard but, overall, development gains accrued globally year-on-year."

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

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Declines in fundamental areas of human development are being felt across most countries - rich and poor - in every region, says a UNDP press release.

Covid-19's global death toll has exceeded 300,000 people, while the global per capita income is expected to fall by four per cent in 2020.

With school closures, UNDP estimates of the "effective out-of-school rate"—the percentage of primary school-age children, adjusted to reflect those without Internet access -- indicate that 60 per cent of children are not getting an education, leading to global levels not seen since the 1980s.

The combined impact of these shocks could signify the largest reversal in human development on record.

This is not counting other significant effects, for instance, in the progress towards gender equality. 

The negative impacts on women and girls span economic - earning and saving less and greater job insecurity -, reproductive health, unpaid care work and gender-based violence.

Covid-19: A magnifying glass for inequalities

The drop in human development is expected to be much higher in developing countries that are less able to cope with the pandemic's social and economic fallout than richer nations.

In education, with schools closed and stark divides in access to online learning, UNDP estimates show that 86 per cent of children in primary education are now effectively out-of-school in countries with low human development—compared with just 20 per cent in countries with very high human development.

But with more equitable Internet access, - where countries close the gap with leaders in their development group, something feasible – the current gaps in education could close.

Determined, equity-focused interventions can help economies and societies rally, mitigating the far-reaching impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The importance of equity is emphasized in the United Nations' framework for the immediate socio-economic response to Covid-19 crisis, which sets out a green, gender-equal, good governance baseline from which to build a 'new normal.' 

Recommendations

It recommends five priority steps to tackle the complexity of this crisis: protecting health systems and services; ramping up social protection; protecting jobs, small- and medium-sized businesses and informal sector workers; making macroeconomic policies work for everyone; and promoting peace, good governance and trust to build social cohesion. 

UNDP calls on the international community to rapidly invest in the ability of developing countries to follow these steps. 

Top News

Coronavirus / Human development / pandemic

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus of the Bangladesh interim government. Sketch: TBS
    Holy Ashura: CA calls for establishing 'equality, justice, peace' in society
  • BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi attended the inauguration of a football tournament at the Dhanmondi Sports Club ground today (5 July). Photo: TBS
    BNP slams Jamaat for trying to 'fish in troubled waters'
  • Hefazat-e-Islam leaders at a prayer gathering held at Jamia Madania Baridhara Mosque in Dhaka on 5 July 21025. Photo; Courtesy
    UNHRC office won't be allowed in Bangladesh: Hefazat chief Babunagari

MOST VIEWED

  • A meeting of the Advisory Council Committee chaired by the Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus held on 3 July 2025. Photo: PID
    Govt Service Ordinance: Compulsory retirement to replace dismissal for misconduct in govt job 
  • Graphics: TBS
    Foreign currency in offshore banking units now eligible as collateral for taka loans
  • New Mooring Container Terminal. Photo: TBS
    Chittagong Dry Dock to take over New Mooring terminal operations on 7 July
  • Ships and shipping containers are pictured at the port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, US, 30 January 2019. Photo: REUTERS
    Bangladesh expects US tariff relief after Trump announces cuts to Vietnam
  • Miners are seen at the Bayan Obo mine containing rare earth minerals, in Inner Mongolia, China. Photo: Reuters
    How China is playing the rare earths trump card — and why Ukraine couldn’t
  • Illustration: TBS
    Grameen Jibon: A business born from soil, memory, and the scent of home

Related News

  • Bagerhat upazila hospitals crippled by lack of Covid test kits amid nationwide spike
  • 10 more Covid-19 cases reported in country
  • 'History will not forgive' failure to seal pandemic deal: WHO chief
  • China marks muted 5th anniversary of first Covid death
  • Another pandemic is inevitable, and we're not ready

Features

Students of different institutions protest demanding the reinstatement of the 2018 circular cancelling quotas in recruitment in government jobs. Photo: Mehedi Hasan

5 July 2024: Students announce class boycott amid growing protests

22h | Panorama
Contrary to long-held assumptions, Gen Z isn’t politically clueless — they understand both local and global politics well. Photo: TBS

A misreading of Gen Z’s ‘political disconnect’ set the stage for Hasina’s ouster

1d | Panorama
Graphics: TBS

How courier failures are undermining Bangladesh’s online perishables trade

1d | Panorama
The July Uprising saw people from all walks of life find themselves redrawing their relationship with politics. Photo: Mehedi Hasan

Red July: The political awakening of our urban middle class

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Trump says he is about to raise tariffs as high as 70% on some countries

Trump says he is about to raise tariffs as high as 70% on some countries

32m | TBS World
Will political disputes delay the elections?

Will political disputes delay the elections?

1h | TBS Stories
Initiative to break the deadlock created by the US

Initiative to break the deadlock created by the US

1h | TBS World
Beijing openly sides with Moscow for the first time

Beijing openly sides with Moscow for the first time

3h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net