From persistent digital divides to education disparities and post-pandemic employment struggles, SDG’s half-time report unveils a world in transition, striving for inclusivity and equity
Regardless of age, station, race, and gender, millions of people worldwide click into the digital universe every day. Yet, digital divides and inequalities that have historically polarised the world have not gone away.
Despite a startling jump in internet subscribers in the least developed countries, from 15 percent in 2015 to 36 percent in 2023, the gap between them and the high-income countries is a massive 56 percent.
However, the fact that there are now 8.63 billion mobile subscribers and that two-thirds of the world is connected indicates that the planet is irreversibly set on the course of achieving digital parity. And the fastest growth in the spread of digital subscriptions is likely to happen in the less developed world.
This is because the headroom for growth in high-income (92 percent connected) and upper-middle-income countries (79 percent) is relatively small.
There is a substantial gender gap in internet usage globally, with only 63 percent of women using the internet compared to 69 percent of men. Unfortunately, new technologies have introduced additional risks, particularly the reckless use of artificial intelligence (AI), which can lead to serious privacy breaches and increased online harm, including the propagation of online violence, hate speech, and misinformation and disinformation.
UN agencies and partners are striving to bridge the digital divide following the UN Secretary-General's call for a global digital compact and the release of his policy brief on information integrity on digital platforms.
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak significantly impacted global education, despite some progress made in recent years.
Approximately 1.5 billion children and youth worldwide were affected by school closures. Around 250 million children are out of school globally, with 64 million primary school-aged children still without access to education. Additionally, almost half of all refugee children globally lack access to education. Moreover, there are currently 763 million illiterate adults worldwide.
According to estimates, almost 84 million children and young people will remain out of school by 2030.
The United Nations Secretary-General has organised the Transforming Education Summit of 2022. The summit stresses the urgent need to take escalated measures to offer inclusive and high-quality education, especially for low-income students, girls, and those facing disabilities or crisis situations.
In 2015, the global population of working-age people had an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. This number was higher for women, who were overrepresented in vulnerable and informal jobs and more likely to be unpaid caregivers. In most countries, women in full-time employment earned 10 to 30 percent less than men.
International Labour Organisation (ILO) figures show that 1.5 billion people work in vulnerable jobs without formal arrangements.
2023: Working out post-pandemic progress
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused wage losses, job insecurity, and a cost of living crisis, affecting people worldwide. Although the global unemployment rate has slightly decreased to 5.8 percent, the pandemic continues to impact it. In 2021, the ILO estimated that the pandemic caused the loss of around 125 million full-time jobs, disproportionately affecting women and young people.
Furthermore, last year, over 2 billion workers globally worked in the informal sector without social protection coverage, as per the agency's latest employment outlook report.
In 2021, the Secretary-General of the United Nations launched the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions. This initiative aims to expand social protection to four billion people and create at least 400 million decent jobs.
Between 2020 and 2022, the Joint SDG Fund's Portfolio on Integrated Social Protection provided crucial financing to sustain and expand social protection coverage in 39 countries worldwide. UN country teams have supported governments in reaching 147 million vulnerable individuals with access to new or extended social protection benefits.