A/HRC/45/40 G. Access, entitlement and opportunities 47. Our world reflects not only an uneven distribution of resources, but also inequalities in opportunities, in terms of access to entitlements and those emerging from gender, class, ethnicity and race. These inequalities, in turn, translate into unequal human development outcomes.38 The wide inequality in access, entitlements and opportunities reflects undesirable aspects of the way in which human societies are presently organized. Indeed, widening inequalities can undermine poverty-reduction efforts and negatively impact an underprivileged person’s sense of self-worth. 48. Inequalities in human development also hurt societies, weakening social cohesion and people’s trust in government, institutions and each other. Most of those inequalities harm economies, wastefully preventing people from reaching their full potential at work and in life in general, and they constitute a roadblock to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals contained in the 2030 Agenda.39 Focusing on poverty eradication and successfully reducing inequalities would have compound positive effects on the achievement of the entire set of Goals. Limiting climate change, reducing inequalities and pursuing responsible consumption are key ways to overcoming hurdles to achieving the Goals across countries.40 H. New inequalities: tertiary education and the digital divide 49. Meanwhile, new inequalities have arisen, as the abilities that people need to compete in the immediate future evolve over time. A new gap has opened up, covering sectors like tertiary education and access to broadband. Once considered luxuries, these are now regarded as critical in order to compete and to belong, particularly in a knowledge economy, where an increasing number of young people are educated and connected but are lacking opportunities to move up the ladder.41 50. The rapid evolution and spread of information and communications technologies has transformed the global economy. While the pace of digital transformation varies, all countries are affected. A sharp digital inequality has resulted, which needs to be surmounted in order to ensure more equal access to the Internet and other new technologies and the opportunities deriving from such access. This speedy transformation of the world economy as a result of the rapid spread of new digital technologies has major implications for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, presenting huge opportunities and challenges for developing countries. Increased levels of digitalization of societies and economies are creating new means for tackling global developmental challenges. There are, however, risks that digital disruptions will mainly favour those already well prepared to create and capture value in the digital era, rather than contributing to more inclusive development.42 While the rapid spread of digital technologies is transforming numerous economic and social activities, widening digital divides threaten to leave most developing countries, especially least developed countries, even further behind.43 About 3.6 billion people remain offline, with most unconnected people living in 38 39 40 41 42 43 K. Seeta Prabhu and Sandhya S. Iyer, Human Development in an Unequal World (Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2019), p. 1. Human Development Report 2019: Beyond Income, Beyond Averages, Beyond Today – Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century. D. Lusseau and F. Mancini, “Income-based variation in Sustainable Development Goal interaction networks”. Nature Sustainability, vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 242–247. Human Development Report 2019: Beyond Income, Beyond Averages, Beyond Today. Digital Economy Report 2019: Value Creation and Capture – Implications for Developing Countries (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.19.II.D.17). Ibid. It is also noted in the Digital Economy Report 2019 (p. 3) that the economic geography of the digital economy does not display a traditional North-South divide. It is consistently being led by one developed and one developing country: the United States of America and China. For example, those two countries account for 75 per cent of all patents related to blockchain technologies, 50 per cent of global spending on the Internet of Things, and more than 75 per cent of the world market for public cloud computing. Perhaps most strikingly, they account for 90 per cent of the market capitalization value of the world’s 70 largest digital platforms. 11