Sustainable development at risk
Cascading risks threaten inclusive and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.
Social protection has played a catalytic role in reducing and preventing poverty and inequality, as well as social exclusion and insecurity. This has been recognized by the international community, which has positioned social protection as a key enabler to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
However, cascading risks threaten inclusive and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. Some 156 million people fell into moderate poverty in 2022 in the region. The number of undernourished people in the region, at 402 million, represents 55 per cent of the total number of undernourished people globally.
Source: ESCAP estimates based on World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform accessed on 15 May 2024.
Note: Estimates follow ESCAP definitions of subregions and are based on the latest international poverty lines estimated by the World Bank at $2.15 and $3.65 a day at 2017 purchasing power parity. Therefore, in total 26 countries with data available in 2017-2022 are included. The figure excludes all high-income countries in Asia and the Pacific. In India, poverty rates are projected to recent periods by the World Bank due to lack of recent household surveys.
Access to basic services has expanded, but gaps remain
Over the period 2010-2022, most countries in Asia and the Pacific significantly expanded people’s access to basic services and opportunities. In fact, progress has been fast among the furthest behind groups in many countries.
However, wide gaps in access to basic opportunities persist between people furthest behind and furthest ahead—there is a fourfold gap in tertiary education attendance, a threefold gap in Internet usage and a twofold gap in access to clean fuels.
Source: ESCAP LNOB Platform based on latest DHS and/or MICS data inn 2010-2022 period from 30 countries accessible at https://lnob.unescap.org/.
The future of the region’s children is at risk, with pandemic-induced disruptions in education alone expected to lower average lifetime earnings, for example by up to 5 per cent in South Asia.
In more than one third of countries in the region, future labour productivity would be expected to be at least twice as high if governments were to provide full health and complete education to all children born in 2020.
Unless action is taken now, vulnerabilities, marginalization and social exclusion will increase, ultimately putting at risk the social foundation of the Asia-Pacific region.