New data and analysis published on Tuesday by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) show that people’s sense of safety and security is low in almost every country, including Nigeria.

In the report, ‘New Threats to Human Security in the Anthropocene’, the UNDP said feelings of insecurity plagued six in seven people worldwide.

It stated that even citizens living in countries that enjoy some of the highest levels of good health, wealth, and education outcomes reported greater anxiety than a decade ago.

“Despite global wealth being higher than ever before, a majority of people are feeling apprehensive about the future, and these feelings have likely been exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Achim Steiner, the UNDP administrator.

The official added that in humans’ quest for unbridled economic growth, “we continue to destroy our natural world while inequalities are widening,” both within and between countries.

The UNDP representative stated, “It is time to recognise the signs of societies that are under immense stress and redefine what progress actually means.”

The report called for greater solidarity across borders to tackle the disconnect between development and perceived security.

UNDP also advocated a new development approach to helping people live free from want, fear, anxiety, and indignity.

Asako Okai, the UN assistant secretary-general and director of the UNDP Crisis Bureau, said the report highlighted the need to build a greater sense of global solidarity based on the idea of common security.

“Common security recognises that a community can only be secure if adjacent communities are too,” she explained.

(NAN)