15 October 2026
Economic, digital and energy
transformations are reshaping the world at extraordinary
speed. Yet, billions of people remain excluded from the
jobs, skills, services, infrastructure and protections they
need to benefit from this change, according to The World
Social Report 2026: The New Economics of Social Inclusion:
Making Transformations Work for All, launched today by
the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
(UN DESA).
The report warns that the cost of leaving
people behind is rising. It argues that social inclusion is
a productive investment for resilient, sustained and broadly
shared transformation.
Numbers reveal a world
divided
Despite advances in income, education, health
and access to services, major gaps remain. In
2025:
- 58 per cent of workers worldwide were
informally employed - 27 per cent of young women aged
15 to 24 were not employed, or in education or
training - 26 per cent of the world’s population
still did not have internet access - More than 50
countries experienced rising income inequality between 2000
and 2024, including 23 high-income
countries
These gaps limit productivity, weaken
resilience and leave societies less able to adapt to
technological disruption, climate pressures and geopolitical
fragmentation.
Digital advances and climate pressures
are leaving people behind
An estimated 2.2 billion
people did not have access to internet connectivity in 2025.
Even among people who are connected, affordability, service
quality and limited digital skills continue to restrict
meaningful participation.
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Without deliberate action,
unequal access to connectivity, devices, data and AI skills
could turn today’s digital divide into deeper and more
persistent gaps in learning, income and economic
opportunity.
The report also documents the growing
human and economic consequences of climate change. Of the
1.1 billion people living in multidimensional poverty, 887
million are exposed to at least one major climate
hazard.
These impacts fall most heavily on people and
countries with the fewest resources to adapt—threatening
livelihoods, essential services and long-term economic
resilience.
Invest in people now, or lose
gains
One of the report’s findings is that delaying
inclusion carries a measurable economic
cost.
Simulations across a set of countries indicate
the costs of delaying inclusion. The report shows that if
countries delay investments in social protection by ten
years, they face a potential loss of 12 percent of economic
output compared to countries that invested early.
The
message is clear: Investing in inclusion early is not only
fairer, it makes economic sense.
Transformations do
not guarantee inclusion
Drawing on evidence from 168
countries over the last 25 years, the report introduces a
new dashboard on Socially Inclusive Transformation (SIT) for
assessing whether a country’s economic, digital and energy
transformation is accompanied by economic and social
inclusion.
Malta, Ireland and Denmark record the
highest SIT scores, respectively, while most African
countries are disproportionately concentrated at lower
levels. Within Asia, country performance is more widely
dispersed. Latin American countries generally have strong
performance in SIT scores but are more widely dispersed than
European countries.
The results reveal a persistent
“conversion gap” between transformation and
inclusion.
Countries with similar income or
transformation levels frequently achieve very different
inclusion outcomes. None of the five highest-scoring
countries under the transformation pillar (Malta, Ireland,
USA, Singapore and China) appears among the five
highest-scoring countries under the inclusiveness pillar
(Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands and
Sweden).
Different countries lead across each of the
sub-pillars. Fully balanced performance across sub-pillars
is rare. For example, digital leaders like the USA,
Singapore and the Republic of Korea do not appear in the top
five under the inclusiveness pillar.
The finding
demonstrates that economic, digital and energy
transformations do not automatically translate into wider
economic and social inclusion, and shared
prosperity.
National policies, institutions and
governance choices play a decisive role in determining who
contributes to transformation and who benefits from
it.
Social inclusion promotes successful economic
transformation
The report advances a New Economics of
Social Inclusion, built on a simple proposition: Societies
cannot transform successfully when large parts of their
populations lack access to quality learning, healthcare,
connectivity, finance, social protection and productive
employment.
Broad participation expands the available
workforce, strengthens human capital, encourages innovation
and entrepreneurship, improves the allocation of labour and
allows productivity gains to spread more widely.
Four
priorities for making transformation work for all
The
report calls for four connected priorities:
- Build
the capabilities to adapt – Governments should expand access
to quality education, lifelong learning, digital and AI
skills, resilient health systems and universal social
protection. - Connect everyone to the new economy –
Affordable digital connectivity and reliable, sustainable
energy must become universally accessible, including through
decentralized and off-grid solutions for underserved
communities. - Make labour markets work for people –
Policies should support decent work, workers’ voices,
equal pay, portable benefits, targeted training and active
labour-market programmes that help people move into new
opportunities. - Ensure that prosperity is widely
shared – Stronger wage-setting institutions, collective
bargaining, profit-sharing and progressive fiscal systems
are needed to distribute the gains from transformation more
fairly.
National action needs global
backing
Many developing countries face severe fiscal,
technological and institutional constraints that limit their
ability to invest in inclusive transformation. Rising debt
burdens, declining development cooperation and geopolitical
fragmentation are compounding these challenges.
The
report calls for renewed international cooperation to expand
fiscal space, improve access to affordable long-term
development finance, reduce debt-service burdens and promote
broader access to technology, innovation and digital
infrastructure. It also calls for more representative,
inclusive and responsive global governance
arrangements.
Transformations are inevitable.
Exclusion is not.
By placing people at the centre of
transformation, countries can build economies that are more
productive, societies that are more resilient and
institutions that command greater
trust.
