This is a continuation of my sharing on the United Nations update about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). On Gender Equality, the UN found that there is more work to be done despite the fact that the world is generally kinder to women today. They are still underrepresented in politics and business, and many are denied decision-making power. While 39 percent of the total work force is made up of women, only 27 percent holds managerial positions. Plus, women still suffer from violence and practices like female genital mutilation, and unfair domestic situations.
While there are more who have access to clean drinking water now, compared to the year 2000, 785 million people still lacked basic drinking water services in 2017. And in the same year, around 3 billion people were still unable to wash their hands hygienically at home.
On the matter of Affordable and Clean Energy, this type of power is becoming more sustainable and widely available: 89 percent of the global population now has access to electricity, compared to only 87 percent in 2015. But, there are still 840 million people in rural areas who don’t have access to electricity. This translates to about 9 out of every 10 people worldwide having access to electricity. This goal is seen as one of the SDG’s success stories.
Real gross domestic product grew by 4.8 percent annually in least developed countries from 2010 to 2017. But this is less than the SDG target of 7 percent. In 2018, about one-fifth of the worldwide population of young people were not studying, working or training. This has an impact on their future and the progress of their countries.
Even as we see progress all around us, the report stated that industrialization in less developed countries is not progressing fast enough to meet the SDG target. Manufacturing even suffered a dip in 2018. There is more investment on research and development in countries in North America and Europe, but there is about five times less spending in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2018, 96 percent of the world is connected—this means they lived within range of a mobile signal. However, many are still unable to afford the means to access this technology.
As far as income is concerned, there was a 40-percent growth in the income of the poorest members of the population. But inequalities are still present in many countries as their top 1 percent income earners do receive an increasing share of the total income.
Generally, we would consider the rise of infrastructure as progress—but this can be true only if there is enough support as far as services and the structures themselves are concerned. The forecast is that by 2030, 60 percent of the world’s population will be living in cities. Unfortunately, there may not be enough infrastructure and service support to accommodate all of these people.
Currently, slums and informal
settlements are home to more than 1 billion people. Progress seems detrimental
to our health, too, as the UN found that in 2016, 90 percent of urban residents
were living in places where air pollution has reached
dangerous levels.
To be concluded next week