Published on 13 Oct 2025
The World Social Report 2025 was published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in collaboration with the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER).
UNDESA is a department within the United Nations Secretariat started in 1948.
It provides analysis, policy advice, and technical assistance to UN member states.
Key Findings of report:
The social contract is under threat: Rising insecurity and inequality are eroding trust and straining social bonds.
Many people remain one misfortune away from poverty: More than a third of the world’s population lives on between $2.15 and $6.85 a day.
Inequalities persist: While the poorest half of the global population owned just 2% of all wealth in 2021, the richest 10% owned 76%, and billionaire wealth has soared since 2019.
Gender disparity: Women spend 4.2 hours daily on unpaid care work—over twice as much as men (1.7 hrs)—and earn only 35% of global labour income, a figure largely unchanged since 1990.
Climate change hits the poorest hardest: the bottom 50% emit just 12% of global greenhouse gases but suffer 75% of income losses, while owning only 2% of global wealth.
World Social Report 2025
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
UN DESA
poverty
Inequality
Gender disparity
Women
Climate change
Society
Social groups