Global development rebounds post-Covid, leaving poor countries behind: UN

New York: Humanity has returned to pre pandemic levels of development, the United Nations said on Wednesday, but it warned that the global recovery ma...

New York: Humanity has returned to pre-pandemic levels of development, the United Nations said on Wednesday, but it warned that the global recovery masks a widening gap between rich and poor countries.

The rebound follows two years of decline, when, in 2021 and 2022, the global Human Development Index (HDI) dipped twice in a row for the first time since its creation nearly 35 years ago, thanks in part to the Covid-19 crisis, rolling back five years of progress.

Now, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has forecast a record high in the index for 2023, according to a report released on Wednesday.

"After two years of actually reversing in terms of global human development with the pandemic and all its consequences, we have seen a rebound," head of the UNDP Achim Steiner told AFP.

The 2023 estimate shows metrics in every category -- life expectancy, education and standard of living -- are projected to exceed their pre-2019 values, although lingering effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have blunted the trajectory somewhat.