Urgent need to tackle data inequality: World Development Report 2021

NEW DELHI: The “World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives” was released by the World Bank last week and highlighted the tremendous potential lying in the changing data landscape to improve the lives of poor people, and simultaneously noted its potential to open back doors that can harm individuals, businesses, and societies. The World Development Report focuses on how data can improve the lives of poor people and advance development objectives, to ensure no one is left behind.

David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, said that the perspective of poor people has largely been absent from the global debate on data governance and therefore it urgently needs to be heard. A lack of institutions, financial resources, and decision-making autonomy in low-income countries, he believes, “hold back…the effective implementation and effectiveness of data systems and governance systems”.

The report notes how the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored opportunities and challenges associated with data use, and thus how urgent it is to provide equitable access to data and improving data governance to citizens around the world. It observed that shifts to virtual work during the worldwide lockdowns have illustrated the digital divide between those with and without access to technology, thereby putting light on the challenges related to inequitable access to mobile phones and the internet for people in poor and low-income countries.

In order to address the accentuating issue of data inequalities, the report suggests prioritizing improved representation of marginalized people, when it comes to access to data, and improving data governance domestically. It further recommends international cooperations to work on policies to ensure the value of data is harnessed to benefit all, and to enable everyone to take informed actions towards a green, resilient, and inclusive COVID-19 recovery.

The report in particular proposes international engagement on World Trade Organisation arrangements for trade in data-enabled services, reform of international taxation rights for data-driven businesses, regional collaboration on the development of data infrastructure, bilateral collaboration on law enforcement and antitrust regulation, and harmonization of technical standards to support interoperability. According to the report, these actions are critical if the world wants to work towards “a new social contract for data” that will enable the use and reuse of data to create economic and social value, will foster citizens’ trust that they will not be harmed by the misuse of data they provide, and will promote equitable opportunities to benefit from data.