2025 HDR Acknowledgments

Every Human Development Report is a voyage of discovery, exploring how the human development approach helps navigate pressing challenges and emerging opportunities. That navigation proved particularly challenging for this Report, given the rapidly changing context of artificial intelligence (AI). AI continues to astonish every day. It engenders a mix of hype and hope, along with fear and trepidation. It is attracting financial investment and human talent towards its continuing evolution, but it is also becoming a source of geopolitical tensions. There was really no roadmap helping us navigate what seemed like a new and constantly moving AI frontier. A technology that is in many ways just one more like many others that preceded it also felt at times different, in its ability to simulate and replicate features that are so distinctively human. Therefore, this is a Report that captures the spirit of a particular moment in time, with much uncertainty about what might follow in terms of both AI as a technology and its ultimate impact on people’s lives. Joining in this journey of exploration are the many individuals and organizations recognized here that contributed their expertise, wisdom and expectations, as well as doubts, about what AI might mean for human development.

The Advisory Board, always a crucial source of advice and guidance, was particularly relevant this year and is recognized next to the Report team not to implicate them in the findings but to show appreciation for their fundamental contribution to the Report’s framing and analysis.

Complementing the advice from the Advisory Board, the Statistical Advisory Panel provided guidance on several methodological and data aspects of the Report—particularly those related to calculating its human development metrics. We are grateful to all the panel members: Ola Awad, Oliver Chinganya, Koen Decancq, Shatakshee Dhongde, Patrick Gerland, Aishath Hassan, Ivo Havinga, Richard Heys, Solomon Hsiang, Doho Latif Kane, Steven Kapsos, Milorad Kovacevic, Jaya Krishnakumar, Christoph Lakner, Steve Macfeely, Silvia Montoya, Anu Peltola, Iñaki Permanyer, Andrew Rzepa, Michaela Saisana, Claudia Sanmartin, Hany Torky and Andrew Zolli.

We are also thankful to colleagues who provided data assistance to the Statistical Annex, specifically, Jenny Cresswell, Adolfo Gustavo Imhof, Vladimíra Kantorová, Olivier Labé, Jong-Wha Lee, Stephan Lutter, Alasdair McWilliam, Eric Roland Metreau, Oscar Milafu Onam, Damien Sass, Leo Tornarolii and Yanhong Zhang.

Appreciation is also extended for all the data, written inputs and peer reviews of the Report’s draft chapters, including those by PB Anand, Paul Anand, Joel Anderson, Uğur Aytaç, Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Yi Bu, Leonardo Bursztyn, Miriam Carrera Manzano, Maria-Louise Clausen, Nick Couldry, Andrew Crabtree, Fabien Curto Millet, Christiaan De Neubourg, Virginia Doellgast, Kevin Donovan, Pablo Egaña del Sol, Frank Esser, Adam Fejerskov, Rana Gautam, Anne Marie Goetz, David Hammond, Benajmin Handel, Tomasz Hollanek, Jeroen Hopster, Johannes Jae ger, Rafael Jimenez Duran, Julia Karpati, Marie Kolling, Anton Korinek, Seth Lazar, Margauz Luflade, Michael Muthukrishna, Rose Mutiso, Kruakae Pothong, Stiene Praet, Carina Prunkl, Mitsy Barriga Ramos, Christoph Roth, Anna Salomons, Stefka Schmid, Tobia Spampatti, Tara Thiagara jan, Luis Hernán Vargas, Manuela Veloso, Juri Viehoff, Zi Wang, Åsa Wikforss, Kuan song Victor Zhuang and David Zuluaga Martínez.

We are especially thankful to our close collaborations with our partners: Mario Biggeri, Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti, Flavio Comim, Carlos Alberto Garzon, Ann Mitchell and Kathy Rosenblum at the Human Development & Capability Organization; Stefano Calcina, Valentina Caliri, Giuseppe Diglio, Gerardo Filippo, Marina Kodric, Fabio Marchetti, Bianca Mihalcea, Marco Presenti and Andrea Sironi at Generali; Jon Clifton, Kiki Papachristoforou and Andrew Rzepa at Gallup; Suela Aksoy, Nancy Hey and Ed Morrow at the Lloyd Register Foundation; Antonio Corcoles, Ismael Faro, Zaira Nazario and Kush Varshney at IBM; David G. Blanchflower at Dartmouth College and Alexander Bryson from University College London; Beata Javorcik and Zoe Russo at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; Nino Naderashvili and Charlie Zong at South-North Scholars; Juliana Alves Soares, Paul Anthony, Kimberley Blair Bolch, Nicholas Nam and Leslie J Yun at the World Bank; Sabina Alkire at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative; Stijn Broecke at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; Lucas Chanel at the World Inequality Lab; Ketan Patel at the Force for Good; Jonathan Richard Schwarz at the UK AI Security Institute/Thomson Reuters; Phil lip Howard and Sebastian Valenzuela at the International Panel on the Information Environment; José M. Tavares at the Nova School of Business and Economics; and Hannah Hess at the Climate Impact Lab. Our thanks are also extended to Olimpia Dubini, Olivia Lempa and Richard Steinert at the Nova School of Business and Eco nomics working on the Capstone Project.

Several consultations and seminars with thematic and regional experts and numerous informal consultations with many individuals without a formal advisory role were held in the process of preparing this year’s Report. We are grateful for input in these consultations from Siri Aas Rustad, Tayma Abdalhadi, Alexandra Abello Colak, Elena Abrusci, Adedji Adeniran, Fabrizio Andreuzzi, Anatola Araba, Vesa Arponen, Victoria Austin, Gifty Ayoka, Joon Baek, Maha Bahou, Onur Bakiner, Pallavi Bansal, Roxana Barrantes, Gustavo Béliz, Eliot Bendinelli, Cynthia Bennett, Rahul Bhargava, Nidal Bitar, Karl Blanchet, Joshua Blumenstock, Joanna Bryson, Romina Ca chia, Hailey Campbel, Maria Paz Canales, Michele Candotti, Michela Carlana, Dante Castillo, Han Sheng Chia, Zhang Chunfei, Paul Anthony Clare, Daniella Darlington, Erika Deserranno, Arkan El Seblani, Ethar Eltinay, Alberto Fernández Gibaja, Elenore Fournier-Tombs, Victor Galaz, Helani Galpaya, Daniela Garcia Villamil, Michael Gibson, Gabriel Gomes Couto, Piers Gooding, Andrea Guariso, Anita Gurumurthy, Jinhwa Ha, Jungpil Hahn, Hamza Hameed, Corinne Heckmann, Catherine Holloway, Marie Humeau, Ghis lain Irakoze, Natalie Jabangwe, Parminder Jeet Singh, Yu Jianjun, Priscilla Ege Johnson, Seong Hwan Ju, Ma Jun, Zubair Junjunia, Frederike Kaltheuner, Ozge Karadag, Mary Kawar, Harttgen Kenneth, Jungwook Kim, Niki Kim, Taeho Kim, Yoon Ko, Sengmeng Koo, Adithi Kumar, Nagesh Kumar, Protiva Kundu, Cheol Lee, Dong Hoon Lee, Hyun-kynung Lee, Emmanuel Letouze, Nicola Limodio, Björn-Ola Linner, Sonia Livingstone, Yu Lu, Jean Luc Mastaki, Ke Luoma, Luísa Franco Machado, Anu Madgavkar, Izhar Mahjoub, Joan Manda, Jenifer Mankoff, Audrin Mathe, Francesca Mazzi, Lena Menge, Saurabh Mishra, Hélène Molinier, Nusrat Molla, Amal Mowafy, Ava Nadir, Yushi Nagano, Daniel Naoujoks, Fabio Nascimbeni, Alain Ndayishimiye, Megan O’Neill, Toby Ord, Gudrun Østby, Nikolas Ott, Nikhil Pahwa, Yuhun Park, Balaji Parthasarathy, Pratik Patil, Laurel Patterson, Jason Pielemeier, Fillippo Pierozzi, Carina Prinkl, Raphaëlle Rafin, Rebeca Robboy, Yurii Romashko, Ilana Ron Levy, Asma Rouabhia, Satyaki Roy, Tiffany Saade, Dong-Pyoung Sheen, Bahja Ali Shuriye, Rita Singh, Sebastian Smart, Sang Hyo Song, Tong Song, Paul Spiegel, Serge Stinckwich, Jaimee Stuart, Inkyoung Sun, Yash Tadimalla, Zhou Taidong, Toshie Takahashi, Ma Tianyue, Jutta Treviranus, Chi-Chi Undie, Ott Velsberg, Stefaan Verhulst, Anna Walch, Skyler Wang, Zi Wang, Achim Wennmann, Olivia White, Isaac Wiafe, Kellee Wicker, Kebene Wodajo, Wang Xiaolin, Wan Xiaoyan, Yang Xingli, Nobuo Yoshida, Zhou Yu-Ya, Muhammad Zaman, Liang Zheng, Shen Zhou and Enrique Zuleta Puceiro. Further support was also extended by others too numerous to mention here. Consultations are listed at https://hdr.undp.org/reports-and-publications/towards-2025-human-development-report.

Contributions, support and assistance from many colleagues across the UN family are gratefully acknowledged: the International Telecommunication Union, including Jin Cui, Fredrik Ericsson, Thierry Geiger, Youlia Lozanova, Jose Luis, Rosie McDonald, Martin Shaaper and Caroline Troein; the International Labour Organization, including Janine Berg, David Bescond, Ekkehard Ernst, Andrea Marinucci, Uma Rani, Olga Streitska-Ilina and Dagmar Walter; the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, including Scott Campell, Isabel Ebert, Peggy Hicks and Nathalie Stadelmann; the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, including Zanofer Ismalebbe and Nav eeda Nazir; the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, including Hélène Molinier and Raphaëlle Rafin; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, including Priyadarshani Joshi, Iaroslava Kharkova, Irakli Khodeli, Karalyn Monteil, Claudia Roda and Prateek Sibal; the United Nations University, including Elenore Fournier-Tombs, Tshilidzi Marwala, Serge Stinckwich and Shen Xiamomeng; the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies’ Mehdi Snene; and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization Regional Office, including Shraddha Srikant.

Colleagues in at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provided advice and input and organized consultations. We are grateful to Tehmina Akhtar, Abdallah Al Dardari, Fabrizio Andreuzzi, Iffat Anjum, Jacob Assa, Estefania Asturizaga, Marcos Athias Neto, Walid Badawi, Rodrigo Barraza, Iram Batool, Fiona Bayat-Renoux, Yakup Beris, Robert Bernado, Benjamin Bertelsen, Jeremy Boy, Susan Brown, Camilla Bruckner, Michele Candotti, Yu Ping Chan, Gary Chew, Hojin Chung, Enrique Crespo, Pauline Deneufbourg, Roqaya Dhaif, Violante di Canossa, Mirko Ebelshaeuser, Ahunna Eziakonwa, Almudena Fernandez, Kumiko Fukagawa, Arvinn Gadgil, Victor Garrido, Herte Gebretsadik, Raymond Gilpin, Kiri Ginnerup, Carolina Given Sjölander, Carla Gomez, Janil Greenaway, George Gray Molina, El Hadji Fall, Joe Hooper, Caro line Hopper-Box, Alexander Hradecky, Vito Intini, Ghida Ismail, Giulia Jacovella, Zulkarin Jahangir, Anne Juepner, Hurshid Kalandarov, Tomohiro Kawase, Antonin Kenens, Sujin Kim, Sharon Kinsley, Yuna Koh, Adithya Kumar, Alexis Laffittan, Julie Lee, Regina Lio, Jennifer Louie, Linda Maguire, Joan Manda, Michelle Muschett, Debashis Nag, Steliana Nedera, Liwen Ng, Keyzom Ngodup, Shoko Noda, Camila Olate, Robert Opp, Anna Ortubia, Hye-Jin Park, Gayan Peiris, Isabella Rosso, Jelena Ruzicic, Pratyasha Saha, Sebnem Sahin, Turhan Saleh, Philip Schellekens, Anca Stoica, Helin Su Aslan, Hyunjee Sung, Ludmila Tiganu, Riccardo Trobbiani, Ramiz Uddin, Georges Van Montfort, Agi Veres, Kanni Wignaraja, Lesley Wright, Qu Xinyi, Haoliang Xu, Shinobu Yamaguchi, Weijing Ye, Vitali Zakhozhyi and Ivana Zivkovic.

We were fortunate to have the support of talented interns and fact checkers: Idris-Alaba Aderinto, Natalia Aguilar, Komla Amega, Raiyan Arshad, James Chabin, Andrea Davis, Jessica Karki, Danielle Mallon, Chiara Marcoccia, Nazifa Rafa, Yu-Ya Rong, Laura Sanzarello and Xiqing Zhang. The Human Development Report Office (HDRO) also extends its sincere gratitude to the governments of Japan and the Re public of Korea for their financial contributions. Their ongoing support is very much appreciated and remains essential.

We are grateful for the highly professional work of our editors and layout artists at Communications Development Incorporated—led by Bruce Ross-Larson, with Joe Caponio, Meta de Coquereaumont, Mike Crumplar, Christopher Trott and Elaine Wilson. It was a communal experience learning together, especially with Bruce, about how regular spoken language (natural language in the computer science jargon) is becoming a new interface to communicate with computational machines, as well as how artificial intelligence can support the preparation of these reports. That experience extended to the collaboration with Therese Severinsen Marques and the team at Studio Mnemonic in preparing the cover and images in the Report. Therese was given a difficult challenge—to come up with options that centred artificial intelligence on the human and avoid clichés of robots or digital circuits—and she succeeded in creating beautiful images with the help of artificial intelligence that met this brief.

Over several years now the Human Development Report owes a deep debt of gratitude to UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. This gratitude has ac cumulated over the years because he has not only scrupulously preserved and protected HDRO’s editorial independence but has always been generous with his time and wisdom. He has provided us with guidance and, on more than one occasion, challenged us to be more and more ambitious, so that we could make a difference in advancing human development. We only hope to have been worthy of the trust and confidence that he has deposited in our team.