Rising debt servicing is estimated to cause 55 million lost jobs for women and a 17 per cent fall in women’s per capita income, according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) analysis drawing on data from 85 developing countries.
The new report, Who Pays the Price? Gender Inequality and Sovereign Debt shows that women are disproportionately affected through job losses, income decline, and increased unpaid care responsibilities, while men’s income remains largely unchanged, widening the gender income gap.
As governments divert more resources to debt repayments, public spending on health, welfare, and care systems is often reduced, limiting access to essential services and formal work opportunities for all, but with stark impacts on gender inequality.
“Sovereign debt is not a math problem. It is a human one. This analysis sheds new light on how crushing debt payments leave many governments across the world with limited fiscal space and lead to cuts to vital social services – with the heaviest toll falling on women.
When care services are cut, for example, responsibility shifts back onto households – with women carrying most of it, often limiting their access to economic opportunities. Ultimately, debt management strategies must safeguard space for social and care investments that underpin resilient economies – and, in turn, human development,” said Alexander De Croo, UNDP Administrator.
The report estimates that the equivalent of 55 million women’s jobs are at risk in the short term and 92.5 million in the long term when countries move from moderate to high debt repayment burdens. It also sees a 17 per cent drop in women’s per capita income compared to largely unchanged male incomes, and a 32.5 per cent increase in maternal mortality, equivalent to 67 additional deaths per 100,000 births. Life expectancy also declines for both women and men, reflecting growing strain on public health systems.
These impacts amount to development gains in reverse – a trend that could accelerate in the current context of military escalation and related crises. As governments respond to rising insecurity, volatility in energy markets, and inflationary pressures, fiscal space is further compressed, often at the expense of social investments.
The report underscores the importance of integrating a gender analysis into every borrowing decision. “Debt management strategies matter for all people, but when public spending is squeezed by debt repayment, it is women who lose first— their jobs, their services, their economic security. This is why we must integrate gender-based impact assessments into decision-making, protect critical investments in social and care infrastructure, and use gender-responsive budgeting to track how debt servicing affects different economic outcomes for different people,” said Raquel Lagunas, UNDP Global Director of Gender Equality.
The report also calls on governments and global financial institutions to prioritise employment, human development, and gender equality in debt sustainability strategies and to move away from austerity measures that exacerbate inequality.
The report, ‘Who Pays the Price? Gender Inequality and Sovereign Debt’ was produced by UNDP’s EQUANOMICS Programme, supporting countries to make economies work for gender equality through fiscal and tax reforms; strengthened care systems; and institutions equipped to deliver gender equality results, including through data-backed policy reform.
UNDP is the leading United Nations organisation fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.
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