A new set of measures can help assess the distributional impact of aid — the way official development assistance affects different groups of individuals within a country. The European Union’s adoption of this inequality marker is an encouraging step, yet development stakeholders globally should be considering how official development assistance, or ODA, can target those most in need, to ensure policies that are fair, equitable, and aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.
The global economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the ongoing war in Ukraine have unleashed a wave of increasing inequalities across lower-income nations. The poorest 20% of the global population faced some of the most severe income losses in 2021, with an additional 100 million people falling into extreme poverty. Yet, the richest 1% accumulated more than half of all the new wealth created since 2020, resulting in what the World Bank has called an “inequality pandemic.”
Last year, 122 million more people went hungry than pre-pandemic times in 2019 because of rising prices and lack of social protection systems. The global crisis fuels migration and increases the likelihood of tragic incidents like those witnessed recently in Italy — where 94 migrants lost their lives at sea — or the devastating shipwreck that occurred on the Greek coast.
About the authors
Christian Morabito
Christian Morabito is a senior expert in the field of inequality, social policies and development cooperation. He works as researcher and consultant for international organizations such as the United Nations, World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, international NGOs, and the European Commission. He holds a doctorate in Social Welfare Studies from Ghent University, Belgium.
Miguel Niño-Zarazúa
Miguel Niño-Zarazúa is a senior lecturer in development economics at SOAS University of London and a nonresident senior research fellow at the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research, or UNU-WIDER. He is an international expert in the areas of inequality, social protection and redistributive policies in the global south. His recent book, “The Politics of Social Protection in Eastern and Southern Africa,” was published in 2019 by Oxford University Press.
