UN human development report faults inequality

Governments must act together to lift more people out of poverty and reduce inequality in a world where the 85 richest people have as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest people, the UNDP says Improvements in life spans, education and incomes are slowing due to natural disasters, misguided government policies and worsening inequality in a world where the 85 richest people have as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest people, the United Nations said Thursday in its annual human development report.
     
With nearly a third of humanity poor or vulnerable to poverty, governments need to put a higher priority on creating jobs and providing basic social services, the United Nations Development Program said in the report, launched in Tokyo.
     
It warned that improvements in longevity, education and income, which are the three main components of the UNDP's influential index of human development, are slowing due to worsening inequality and economic disruptions, to droughts and other natural disasters and to poor government policies. But the agency also said the solutions are not complicated.
     
"As this report says, it's not rocket science," UNDP head Helen Clark said in an interview before the report's release.
     
"Where people do address these things, development can come along very, very nicely. Where they haven't addressed a lot of vulnerabilities and development deficits, as in Syria, it all comes spectacularly unstuck."
     
Eradicating poverty is not just about "getting to zero," Clark said, "but about staying there."
     
Most people in most countries are doing better than ever before thanks to advances in education, technology and incomes...