Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Inequality In Countries: A New Conflict of Sustainable Development and the Prospect for Conflict Management

Abstract

This chapter aims to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the inequality in countries, define it as a new conflict for sustainable development, and determine the prospects of conflict management. This chapter is based on the Theory of Conflicts and such methods as analysis of variations, trend and regression analysis, and simplex method. It is found that the variation of the COVID-19 case rate in the developed (by the example of G7) and developing (by the example of BRICS) countries was very high (140.99%). The variation of the COVID-19 death rate is lower, but it remains rather high (63.29%). The economic growth rate for the whole sample of countries under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic reduced by 404.16% in 2021, while the quality of life reduced by 1.86% on average. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the inequality in countries, thus creating a new conflict of sustainable development. The perspectives of conflict management of sustainable development are connected to the improvement of the practice of using digital technologies, which helps to reduce the inequality in countries. By the example of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the offered recommendations would have allowed reducing the decline of economic growth rate by 95.01% and preventing the decline in quality of life.

Citation

Popkova, E.G. (2023), "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Inequality In Countries: A New Conflict of Sustainable Development and the Prospect for Conflict Management", Chatterji, M., Luterbacher, U., Fert, V. and Chen, B. (Ed.) International Migration, COVID-19, and Environmental Sustainability (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 32), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 71-81. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1572-832320230000032005