The Covid-19 pandemic continues to threaten existing economic inequalities, around the world and further delay progress made towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to new UNDP report.

Per the findings of the report, eight out of ten people highly likely to become poor by the end of the decade will live in the world’s poorest countries. More so, an additional 41 million more people will live in extreme poverty.

Albeit, these outcomes can be reversed if strategic policy decisions made at present focus on bringing economies closer to achieving the SDGs, the report highlights.

Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator remarked along these lines:

“We are providing decision-makers with ambitious solutions to turn this trajectory from one of high damage, sending millions more into poverty in the poorest countries, to one that will not only address the harm caused by COVID-19 but put countries on a direct path towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.”

“With this bold approach, investing in governance, social protection, green recovery and digitalization, we could see 100 million people in the poorest countries lifted out of poverty within this decade.”
Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator

The study was conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Pardee Centre for International Futures at the University of Denver.

The study focuses primarily on 68 countries with low or medium human development, as per the 2020 human development index (HDI).

Focusing on the multidimensional effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and how progress can be forged on the SDGs, the study simulated three potential recovery scenarios.

Focus on the three simulations

In the first potential recovery scenario, the authors focused on a No COVID world. Essentially, before the pandemic, the global economy was not on track for attainment of any of the SDG targets that had a people focus by 2030. Stretching out to 2050, reaching the target still looked gloomy and would not have been met, the report indicates.

In the second scenario, the progress before COVID was even less optimistic at the country level, the authors find. Among 186 countries globally, only 110 have achieved the SDG goal of eliminating poverty by 2030 in a world without COVID-19.

By extending target to 2050, the authors find that the numbers that would have achieved goal one increased to 136 countries. However, 50 countries would still not have eliminated extreme poverty by then.

For the third case, the COVID pandemic is considered to have added significant challenge to attaining the SDGs by sending development on the reverse globally. It is widely observed that the COVID-19 pandemic has in the short run resulted in increases in poverty and food insecurity. Health care has become challenging and educational attainment has also been interrupted globally.

Furthermore, based on this scenario, the authors aver that the pandemic’s effect will linger for decades. To emphasize, however, “COVID does not eliminate gains between 2015 and 2030 for any of the variables we examine, but it does consistently reduce them.”