Challenges
The Asia-Pacific region was making considerable progress in poverty reduction until 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic reversed hard-won gains, compounded by the cost-of-living crisis in 2022. An estimated 47 million people in the region have been pushed into extreme poverty since. Half of the world’s multidimensionally (capturing multiple deprivations in education, health, nutrition and living conditions) poor people live in Asia and the Pacific and non-monetary poverty exceeds monetary poverty. Climate change impacts are expanding the group of people in vulnerable situations and is expected to increase the number of people pushed into extreme poverty.
Income and wealth inequalities are persistently high and have increased since the pandemic. Some of the world’s most unequal countries in wealth ownership are in Asia and the Pacific. Inequality of opportunity is also high and perpetuates rising inequalities. Some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets where gaps the furthest ahead and furthest behind groups continue to be high are completion of secondary and higher education, reliance on clean fuels, as well as access to finance and the Internet. The region is far from delivering on the central transformative pledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – leave no one behind (LNOB).
Our response
To help governments reverse these trends, we advocate for a stronger focus on measuring inequality, particularly inequality of opportunity using the indicator framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, such as education, clean energy, water and sanitation, nutrition and health care. Our methodology leverages nationally representative micro data and identifies the furthest behind population groups, usually experiencing intersecting disadvantages. Our research relies on innovative analytical tools to identify those left furthest behind. Our results are featured in ESCAP publications, including our flagship Social Outlook for Asia and the Pacific, as well as other knowledge products, and are used in Voluntary National Reviews.
Our work
- ESCAP LNOB Platform with detailed country-level information on 19 SDG indicators for 30 countries across Asia and the Pacific;
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Country Briefs on LNOB;
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Voluntary National Review Briefs on LNOB;
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Thematic briefs on LNOB and inequality of opportunity;
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Virtual Introductions on demand (write to us);
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Virtual, hybrid or in-person trainings on measuring inequality of opportunity and producing LNOB evidence.
