• The UNDP Human Development Report of 1994 qualifies human security as “safety from chronic threats such as hunger, disease, and repression as well as protection from sudden and harmful disruptions in the patterns of daily life – whether in homes, jobs or communities”.

7 dimensions of Human Security:

(1) Economic Security – unemployment, job insecurity, income inequality, inflation, underdeveloped social security and homelessness;

(2) Food Security

(3) Health Security

(4) Environmental Security

(5) Personal Security

(6) Community Security

(7) Political Security

Human security, approach to national and international security that gives primacy to human beings and their complex social and economic interactions.

• Economic security is a cornerstone of well-being. Economic stability and some degree of predictability enable people to plan and invest in their future and that of their children. They encourage innovation, reinforce social connections and build trust in others and in institutions. Worry and anxiety about the future have negative health outcomes, ranging from mental health problems to heart disease and increased risk of obesity, including among children. Pervasive economic insecurity generates popular discontent and imperils political stability.
• From its inception, the United Nations has recognized the significance of economic security for wellbeing. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living “and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control”. While the issue does not have a dedicated goal in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including in the implementation of social protection systems and measures for all, advances towards universal health care coverage, access to quality education and the promotion of decent work, will help promote greater economic security.
• Giving a precise, practical meaning to economic insecurity is challenging. People’s feelings of insecurity often draw on their past experience—that is, having experienced downside economic shocks creates insecurity—but they also have a prospective dimension related to risk. Insecurity can be caused by actual risks or be based on people’s perceptions. Despite its many facets, two elements are common to most definitions of economic insecurity (1) people’s exposure to—or expectation of—adverse events and (2) their (in)ability to cope and recover from the consequences of such events.
• But the links between the COVID-19 crisis and insecurity go both ways: while the impact of the crisis on insecurity is clear, the economic insecurity that preceded the crisis has amplified its effects. Many people in low- and middle-income groups do not have the financial resources to weather shocks. This is particularly the case where job insecurity, including in the informal economy, hinders access to healthcare and social protection, including unemployment insurance. In many countries, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis is more severe on women, for instance, due to their over-representation in informal employment. The crisis has indeed shone a spotlight on massive inequalities in exposure to the virus, the ability to work from home, access to adequate health care and e-learning, and social protection coverage. It has exposed the precarity of many people’s lives and revealed the large degree of risk and uncertainty embedded in today’s society.