UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- "Inequality is not beyond solutions," Achim Steiner, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said Monday as the United Nations agency unveiled its new report on human development.
The demonstrations sweeping across the world today signal that, despite unprecedented progress against poverty, hunger and disease, many societies are not working as they should and the connecting thread is inequality, according to the UNDP report.
Different triggers are bringing people onto the streets -- the cost of a train ticket, the price of petrol, demands for political freedoms, the pursuit of fairness and justice. This is the new face of inequality, and as this Human Development Report sets out, inequality is not beyond solutions, Steiner said.
The 2019 Human Development Report (HDR), entitled "Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: inequalities in human development in the 21st century," said that just as the gap in basic living standards is narrowing for millions of people, the necessities to thrive have evolved.
In countries with very high human development, for example, subscriptions to fixed broadband are growing 15 times faster and the proportion of adults with tertiary education is growing more than six times faster than in countries with low human development.
The report analyzed inequality in three steps: beyond income, beyond averages, and beyond today. But the problem of inequality is not beyond solutions, it said, proposing a battery of policy options to tackle it.
The 2019 Human Development Index (HDI) and its sister index, the 2019 Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index, set out that the unequal distribution of education, health and living standards stymied countries' progress.
By these measures, 20 percent of human development progress was lost through inequalities in 2018.
The report recommended revamped policies in education, productivity and public spending.
As inequality begins even before birth and can accumulate through adulthood, investing in young children's learning, health and nutrition is key. These investments must continue throughout life as they have an impact on earnings and productivity in the labor market.
UNDP observed that countries with a more productive workforce generally have a lower concentration of wealth at the top, which is enabled by policies that support stronger unions, the right to a minimum wage, social protection and which bring more women into the workplace.
The report also highlighted the role of taxation. Fair taxation should lie behind policies that include greater public spending on health, education and greener energy alternatives.
