For the first time in 30 years, Global Human Development, a measure that combines the world’s health, education and living standards, is expected to decline. In a time where two thirds of children around the world are out of school, UNDP recognizes fighting the digital divide as a key weapon to counteract the decline in the Human Development Index. The COVID-19 crisis shows that access to internet is an equity question. The Director of the Human Development Report, Pedro Conceição, emphasizes access to the internet, a key enabler of digital transformation, as a necessity in the 21st century and forecasts that failing to bring equity in the context of technologies into the policy toolkit, will cause many countries to fall even further behind. The United Nations’ framework for the immediate socio-economic response to the COVID-19 crisis calls on the international community to address such equity issues when building a “new normal” that establishes a green, gender-equal and good governance baseline. Rapid investment is needed to enable developing countries to follow this baseline. Read the report to learn more.

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