Human development

The world is shrinking. Cheap flights, large scale commercial shipping and expanding road networks all mean that we are better connected to everywhere else than ever before. Accessibility - whether it is to markets, schools, hospitals or water - is a precondition for the satisfaction of almost any economic need. The new map of Travel Time to Major Cities -developed by the European Commission and the World Bank- captures this connectivity and the concentration of economic activity. It also highlights that there is little wilderness left. The map shows the travel time (in hours/days) to major cities (i.e. cities of 50,000 or more people in year 2000) using land (road/off road) or water (navigable river, lake and ocean) based travel.

Tensions over freshwater use and management in international river basins are one of the main concerns in political relations. They may exacerbate existing tensions, increase regional instability and social unrest. Hydro-political interactions are here defined as episodes of cooperation or conflict between countries over transboundary water resources. The probability index presented in this map is based on past hydro-political issues in international river basins and a selection of biophysical and socioeconomic indicators (for the period 1997-2012). Areas are more (red) or less (blue) likely to experience transboundary water-related issues. A higher likelihood identifies areas where hydro-political interactions are more probable, due to lack of water supply and/or human pressure in a more vulnerable institutional and socioeconomic context. This data driven index can help policy makers identify areas where cooperation over water should be actively pursued to avoid possible tensions, especially under changing environmental conditions.

Poverty affects billions of people around the globe. On a daily basis, they face low wages and substandard health, education, and living standards. Because of this, poverty must be understood and approached as a multidimensional issue. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) acknowledges that poverty has many faces. The second dimension in the MIP is the Education dimension. This includes years of schooling and child school attendance. This map shows the percentage contribution of the education dimension to overall poverty. The lower percentages are shown in darker blues while the higher percentages are shown as brighter, lighter blues.

Poverty affects billions of people around the globe. On a daily basis, they face low wages and substandard health, education, and living standards. Because of this, poverty must be understood and approached as a multidimensional issue. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) acknowledges that poverty has many faces. The third and last dimension in the MPI is the Living Standard dimension. This includes access to electricity, improved sanitation services and safe drinking water, flooring, cooking fuel, and assets ownership. This map shows the percentage contribution of the Living Standards Dimension to the overall poverty index. The lower percentages are shown in darker greens while the higher percentages are shown as brighter, lighter greens.

According to UN estimates, the global population will increase by 2.4 billion between 2015 and 2050. Of this, an overwhelming 50 % will be concentrated in Africa (1.3 billion). There could be up to four times as many people in sub-Saharan Africa by the end of the century. The human imprint on the planet has a major impact on the functioning of the Earth system. Because the impact on the environment is closely intertwined with population dynamics, it is important to monitor and include these in the evaluation of land degradation. This layer displays the areas of concern for population density related issues derived from the convergence of global evidence of human-environment interactions that can lead to land degradation. This layer is part of the World Altas of Desertification

Some extraordinary changes have occurred across the globe over the past decades regarding human habitation. Globally, between 1975 and 2015 built-up areas increased by approximately 250 %, while population increased by a factor of 1.8. The most considerable changes occurred in Africa where it has nearly quadrupled. The extent of built-up area poses a number of challenges to global sustainable development. As urban clusters expand, productive land and soil is sealed, and natural ecosystems are replaced by land use to support urban centres. This layer highlights the areas of concern for built-up related issues derived from the convergence of global evidence of human-environment interactions that can have land degradation consequences. This layer is part of the World Altas of Desertification

Aridity represents the ‘dryness’ of the climate. Dry areas have a higher potential for land degradation. This layer displays the areas of concern for aridity related issues derived from the convergence of global evidence of human-environment interactions that can lead to land degradation. It highlights dryland areas, where the Aridity Index (ratio of precipitation to evapotranspiration) is inferior to 0.65. This layer is part of the World Altas of Desertification

The human imprint on the planet has a major impact on the functioning of the Earth system. Because the impact on the environment is closely intertwined with population dynamics, it is important to monitor and include these in the evaluation of land degradation. This layer displays the areas of concern for population change related issues derived from the convergence of global evidence of human-environment interactions that can lead to land degradation. It reflects the dynamics of increasing number of people in a certain area. This layer is part of the World Altas of Desertification

Smallholder farmers and pastoralists have restricted access to capital and may not have the capacity to invest in management practices that mitigate land degradation. This layer displays the areas of concern for the issues related to income level derived from the convergence of global evidence of human-environment interactions that can lead to land degradation. This layer is part of the World Altas of Desertification

Net official development assistance (ODA) is government aid designed to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries. Aid may be provided bilaterally, from donor to recipient, or channelled through a multilateral development agency such as the United Nations or the World Bank. Net official aid (OA) refers to aid flows from official donors to more advanced (developing) countries and territories. Official aid is provided under terms and conditions similar to those for ODA. This map shows the aggregated figure (sum of ODA and OA) for African countries. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

The working poor are employed people who live in households that fall below an accepted poverty line. While poverty in the developed world is often associated with unemployment, the extreme poverty that exists throughout much of the developing world is largely a problem of employed persons. For these poor workers, the problem is typically one of employment quality. Reducing poverty in line with the SDGs therefore necessitates boosting the employment opportunities and incomes of the working poor – those people who are employed, but who are nevertheless unable to lift themselves and their families above the poverty threshold. This map shows for each country the proportion of employed people who live on less than $3.10 a day (in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms), expressed as a percentage of the total employed population aged 15 and older.

The INFORM Risk Index 2021 is a composite model structured into a hierarchy of dimensions, categories, and components. All scores are normalized on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 being the highest risk).Below is the clear breakdown of the index's architecture based on your descriptions:The Composite IndexThe top-level score representing a country's overall risk of humanitarian crisis. It is used to assign countries into Risk Classes:Low: ≤3.5Medium: 3.5−5.0High: 5.0−6.5Very High: ≥6.5Dimension: VulnerabilityThis dimension measures the predisposition of a population to be affected by a hazard based on economic, political, and social characteristics.Sub-Index: Socio-Economic VulnerabilityAn aggregate index covering three main components of systemic instability:Development Deprivation: Measures poverty using the Human Development Index (HDI) and Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).Inequality: Captures the dispersion of human development, including the Gender Inequality Index and the Gini Coefficient.Aid Dependency: Measures economic instability through reliance on public aid, development assistance, and remittances.Sub-Index: Vulnerable GroupsCaptures social groups with limited access to care and heightened susceptibility:Uprooted People: Tracks refugees, IDPs, and returnees.Children Under 5: Specifically monitors child malnutrition and mortality rates.Recent Shocks: Factors in populations already affected by natural disasters in the last 3 years.Food Security: Captures trends in chronic hunger and nutritional balance.Health Conditions: Monitors the prevalence of pandemics (HIV, TB, Malaria) and neglected tropical diseases.Dimension: Lack of Coping CapacityThis dimension measures the ability of a country to manage and recover from disasters through its infrastructure and government effort.Sub-Index: Institutional CapacityMeasures the "soft" infrastructure of a country's disaster management:Governance: Captures government effectiveness, resilience-building, and political integrity (lack of corruption).DRR Implementation: Quantifies how well Disaster Risk Reduction activities are actually put into practice.Sub-Index: InfrastructureMeasures the "hard" assets and systems available during a crisis:Communication: Evaluates the efficiency of early warning dissemination and the literacy/education of the recipients.Physical Connectivity: Assesses the accessibility of transport and the quality/availability of water and sanitation services.Access to Healthcare: Captures health system strength, including physician density and maternal/infant health services.