By: Staff Writer
September 19, 2025
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a recent report said that while the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region has made gains against eradicating poverty and and strengthening democratic institutions, COVID-19 has disrupted the human development trajectory.
The report, “Under Pressure: Recalibrating the Future of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said: “After decades of sustained gains, human development in the region has slowed. The COVID-19 pandemic marked a critical turning point, disrupting the region’s development trajectory and revealing the depth of its structural vulnerabilities. It exposed just how fragile the achievements of recent decades have been. The way human development has been built in LAC has not proved resilient in the face of shocks. In times of crisis, the scaffolding gives way.”
The report also said: “The patterns of development progress in LAC over the last decades can be summarized in four simple tenets: significant progress has occurred; that progress has been unequal; it has slowed in recent years; and it is vulnerable to reversals. After decades of sustained progress, advances in human development across LAC began to slow, particularly from the mid-2010s onwards. The rate of growth on the Human Development Index (HDI) in LAC decreased from a steady 0.7 percent between 1990 (when the indicator was first measured) and 2015, to 0.3 percent in the five-year period before the pandemic, and 0.2 percent since—signalling a stagnation in progress.
“The COVID-19 pandemic marked a critical turning point, triggering the first-ever decline in the HDI since its inception (figure 1, panel A). Although the region has since recovered, the pace of advancement remains sluggish, showing little indication of returning to its pre-pandemic trajectory.
“Development in Latin America and the Caribbean is under unprecedented pressure. Rising uncertainty, overlapping crises, and accelerated transformations are intertwined with structural vulnerabilities and persistent challenges of inequality and governance, putting at risk progress that has taken decades to consolidate,” said Michelle Muschett, UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “There is still time to turn that pressure into opportunity and redefine the trajectory of development in the region. The report we present today provides a roadmap and concrete tools for moving toward more resilient, sustainable human development with greater social cohesion and agency. This regional report reflects UNDP’s commitment to Latin America and the Caribbean and is a key element of a renewed technical offer for the region.”
Based on extensive regional consultations and rigorous analysis, the report proposes a new way of understanding and advancing development: the concept of resilient human development. This approach seeks to expand people’s freedoms and enable them to thrive even in the face of adversity and shocks, within a context increasingly marked by uncertainty.
To prevent and respond to threats, and recover from adverse events, the report identifies three key public policy mechanisms: instruments to navigate uncertainty; institutions that adapt to complexity; and infrastructure that enhances the transformative power of local communities.
The launch event also featured María José Pinto, Vice President of Ecuador, who stressed the urgency of recalibrating the development model in the region through policies that address today’s complexities and strengthen resilience, equity, and long-term sustainability.
Vice President Pinto stated: “UNDP reminds us that resilience is not only about resisting, but about turning pressure into opportunity. We fully share that objective: advancing social and educational resilience programmes, always putting people at the center.”