The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) issued a report introducing a new global index that measures shortfalls in achievements in three areas: quality-adjusted human development; environmental sustainability; and good governance. The Development Challenges Index (DCI) adapts the Human Development Index (HDI), and shifts “from quantitative development achievements to qualitative outcomes, reflecting advances in development thinking over the past three decades.” The publication titled, ‘World Development Challenges Report: Development from a Broader Lens,’ assesses development challenges by foregrounding countries that are most challenged in terms of achieving the SDGs. The report finds that a significant share of the world’s population still lives in difficult and in some cases deteriorating development conditions, with more than 70% residing in countries where income inequality has increased. It warns that there is still much to be achieved in terms of the quality of human development, even in the richest regions, and that environmental sustainability is a major concern for both developed and developing countries. The report identifies governance as the world’s most pressing development challenge.
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