Report on the World Social Situation 2013: Inequality Matters

Preface As the international community shapes its vision for a post-2015 global development agenda, worsening inequalities across and within many countries have been an important part of the discussions. There is a growing recognition among stakeholders that economic growth is not sufficient to sustainably reduce poverty if it is not inclusive.

When world leaders adopted the Millennium Declaration in 2000, they pledged to create a more equitable world. Yet, in many countries, the ladder of opportunity has become much harder to climb. Large disparities in access to health and education services, land and other productive assets between the richest and the poorest households persist. Wealth inequalities are inherited across generations and are present across locations, trapping large pockets of society in poverty and exclusion.

Across the globe, people living in poverty and vulnerable social groups have been hit particularly hard by the global financial and economic crisis and its aftermath, adding urgency to the need to address inequalities and their consequences. There is growing global consensus on the need to bridge the divide between the haves and the have-nots.

As underscored in the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), finding ways to effectively reduce inequality will require a transformative change and an inclusive approach to the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental.

Properly balanced social, economic and environmental policies and institutions can help reduce inequalities when they ensure equality of opportunity, foster job creation and ensure access to adequate social protection for all. Much can be learnt from those countries that managed to reduce inequality even under an uncertain and volatile global environment. The international community can play a role in providing support to policies that help reduce inequality.

Eight years after the 2005 issue of the Report on the World Social Situation, which warned the world of an inequality predicament, this Report on the World Social Situation 2013: Inequality Matters brings renewed attention to inequality.

The Report places special focus on the impacts of inequality and highlights policies that have been effective at reducing inequality and have helped improve the situation of disadvantaged and marginalized social groups.

The Report illustrates that growing inequalities can be arrested by integrated policies that are universal in principle while paying particular attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized populations. It reminds world leaders that, in addressing inequalities, policy matters.

The Report shows that inequality does not affect only the poor, but can be detrimental to growth, stability and well-being in general. It aims to provide