The world is now two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, and the end is nowhere in sight.

The human, economic and social toll of the pandemic has been devastating. Rising poverty, job losses, shredded safety nets, health-care systems pushed to the brink, and the impacts of a changing climate are placing the Sustainable Development Goals further out of reach.

Inequalities are intensifying, setting the stage for an uncertain, uneven and unfair recovery.

In some countries, ambitious vaccination roll-outs and bold economic support and stimulus packages are paving the way towards recovery.

But progress is not being shared equally.

More than a quarter of developing countries have yet to achieve their pre-pandemic levels of output, hampered by severely inadequate access to vaccines and limited financial resources. Job creation has been insufficient to make up for earlier losses, with employment deficits disproportionally affecting women and youth.