A/HRC/36/23 27. In the absence of specific benchmarks for the implementation of the right to development, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2016 20 and the note by the Secretary-General on progress and prospects in financing for development (E/FFDF/2017/2) complement the Declaration and provide some valuable guidance. Poverty and rising inequalities 28. The Declaration advocates people-centred development aimed at the realization of all rights and freedoms in the development process and enhanced well-being for all individuals and peoples, encompassing a holistic paradigm that is also reflected in the 2030 Agenda. In 2012, one in eight people still lived in extreme poverty. Only one in five people in low-income countries and two in three in upper-middle-income countries enjoyed social assistance or social protection benefits. 21 This situation points, inter alia, to a lack of policies which are conducive to favourable development conditions, as required by the Declaration. 29. Much remains to be done to realize basic rights, including the rights to food, water, shelter, health and education. Although it has declined, more than 790 million people still suffer from hunger. One in four children under the age of 5 had stunted growth in 2014. Under-5 mortality rates have declined by more than half since the 1990s, but still account for 43 deaths for every 1,000 live births. Despite a decline in the incidence of some communicable diseases, sub-Saharan Africa still accounts for a disproportionately high percentage of, inter alia, HIV and malaria cases. As of 2013, 59 million children of primary school age were out of school and 757 million adults were unable to read and write, two thirds of them women (E/2016/75). 30. The impacts of poverty and lack of access to economic, social and cultural rights are further exemplified by the statistics on access to water and sanitation: 663 million people still use unimproved water sources, 2.4 billion are without improved sanitation and 2 billion worldwide are affected by water stress. Although more than a billion people still lacked access to electricity in 2012, between 2010 and 2012 there was an increase of 4 per cent a year in access to modern renewables. The Declaration recognizes the importance of an active role for women in development but globally, women still spend more than twice as much time as men in unpaid labour and, as of 2016, comprised only 23 per cent of national parliamentarians. Concerted measures towards effective solutions are needed at all levels to implement the Declaration in operationalizing the 2030 Agenda (ibid.). 31. Recent studies indicate that inequalities are rising and pose a growing threat to development.22 Since 2015, the richest 1 per cent has owned more wealth than the other 99 per cent. Eight men now own the same amount of wealth as that owned by 3.6 billion others, the poorer half of the world. Over the next 20 years, it is projected that 500 people will hand over $2.1 trillion to their heirs, a sum larger than the gross domestic product of India, a country of 1.3 billion people. The incomes of the poorest 10 per cent increased by less than $3 a year between 1988 and 2011, while those of the richest 1 per cent increased 182 times as much. This clearly runs counter to the paradigm for development contained in the Declaration for the individual and collective well-being of all individuals, peoples and nations. The rising tide of inequality, including wealth inequality, contradicts the commitment made in the Declaration to an international, economic, political and social order in which all rights and freedoms can be realized for all. 20 21 22 United Nations publication, Sales No. E.16.I.10. See the report of the Secretary-General on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (E/2016/75) and International Labour Organization, World Social Protection Report 2014/15. See, e.g., Oxfam Briefing Paper, “An economy for the 99%”, January 2017, available at www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp-economy-for-99-percent-160117en.pdf; World Economic Forum, The Global Risks Report 2017, available at www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2017; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, In It Together: Why Less Inequality Benefits All (Paris, 2015), available at www.oecd.org/social/in-it-together-why-less-inequality-benefits-all-9789264235120-en.htm. 7