UNDP 2025 Human Development Report shows unprecedented slowdown

By Konrad Djaisi

The 2025 Human Development Report shows that human development progress is experiencing an unprecedented slowdown.

According to a new report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), instead of seeing sustained recovery following the period of exceptional crises for 2020–2021, it reveals unexpectedly weak progress. Excluding those crisis years, the meagre rise in global human development projected in this year’s report is the smallest increase since 1990.

For the fourth year in a row, inequality between Low HDI and Very High HDI countries continues to increase according to the report. This reverses a long-term trend that has seen a reduction of inequalities between wealthy and poor nations.

Development challenges for countries with the lowest HDI scores are especially severe; driven by increasing trade tensions, a worsening debt crisis and the rise of jobless industrialisation.

Launched with the theme ‘A matter of choice: people and possibilities in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)’, the report analyses development progress across a range of indicators known as the Human Development Index (HDI), which encompasses achievements in health and education along with levels of income.

Projections for 2024 reveal stalled progress on the HDI in all regions across the world.

Opening the session, UNDP Resident Representative Niloy Banerjee emphasised an urgent need to harness AI for inclusive and sustainable development.

Chairman-National Development Planning Commission Dr. Nii Moi Thompson delivered the keynote address, noting that AI offers vast opportunities but its deployment must be ethical and equitable – ensuring that its benefits are accessible to all socio-economic groups, not just a privileged few.

Beyond the alarming rate of deceleration in global development, the report finds widening inequities between rich and poor countries. As traditional paths to development are squeezed by global pressures, decisive action is needed to move the world away from prolonged stagnation of progress.

UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said if 2024’s sluggish progress becomes ‘the new normal’, that 2030 milestone could slip by decades – making our world less secure, more divided and more vulnerable to economic and ecological shocks.

“Amid this global turmoil, we must urgently explore new ways to drive development,” Mr. Steiner said. “As Artificial Intelligence continues its rapid advance across so many aspects of our lives, we should consider its potential for development. New capabilities are emerging almost daily – and while AI is no panacea, the choices we make hold potential to reignite human development and open new pathways and possibilities.”

Half of respondents worldwide think that their jobs could be automated. An even larger share – six in ten – expect AI to impact their employment positively, creating opportunities in jobs that may not even exist today. Only 13 percent of survey respondents fear AI could lead to job losses. Conversely, in low- and medium-HDI countries 70 percent expect AI to increase their productivity and two-thirds anticipate using AI in education, health or work within the next year.

The report advocates for a human-centred approach to AI, which has the potential to fundamentally redesign development strategies.

In a related development, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohuno has cautioned parents who legally own guns to keep them locked and out of their children’s reach.

He noted that careless storage of firearms in homes has added to the growing risk of gun violence in schools and communities. The IGP observed that gun misuse, even during social events or festivals, continues to create fear and insecurity across the country.

Yohunu made these remarks in a speech read on his behalf at a school event in Accra called the ‘Save Schools Outreach Programme’ held at O’Reilly Secondary School. The programme is being rolled out by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons.

It seeks to educate students on the dangers of illegal small arms and encourage them to become peace ambassadors in their schools and communities. Minister of Education Haruna Iddrisu, in a speech read on his behalf, described the launch as timely and important.

Echoing the minister’s message, Mr. Christoph Capelle-Sghiouar, Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said that every year thousands of lives are lost due to illegal use of guns.

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