A day about a quiet ingredient
Most development stories are about roads, power stations, vaccines and schools. This one is about something less visible: information. Who has it, who can read it, and who can use it to make a better decision.
World Development Information Day falls on 24 October every year. It sits next to United Nations Day on purpose, and it asks a simple question: do people understand the problems of development well enough to help solve them?
Where the day comes from
According to the UN’s own page for the observance, the General Assembly established the day in 1972 through resolution 3038 (XXVII). Its purpose was to draw the attention of the world to development problems and to the need to strengthen international cooperation to solve them.
The date was chosen deliberately. It matches United Nations Day on 24 October, which is also the date in 1970 when the Assembly adopted the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade.
The idea behind it is practical. The Assembly judged that better spread of information and mobilizing public opinion, especially among young people, would raise awareness of development problems and so support international cooperation. In short, development policy needs public understanding, and public understanding needs information.
What “mobilizing public opinion” means
The UN page describes the work as two-sided. Governments of richer countries should deepen public understanding of how development efforts depend on each other, and of why helping developing countries progress matters. Governments of developing countries should make people at every level aware of the benefits and the sacrifices involved, and enlist their participation in reaching development goals.
The page adds that this job belongs mainly to national bodies, and that the United Nations’ role is to help national media by supplying solid basic information to draw from.
Real world: A vaccination drive shows the idea well. The vaccine matters, but so does a clear message in the local language about where to go, when, and whether it is safe. Without that message, supply and demand never meet.
Four decades of “development decades”
The day did not appear out of nowhere. It grew out of a long run of UN development decades, each one a ten-year attempt to turn the Charter’s pledge of well-being and a decent standard of living into concrete action. The UN page lists the General Assembly resolutions behind them:
| Decade | Years | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| First UN Development Decade | 1960 to 1970 | A/RES/1710 (XVI), 19 December 1961 |
| Second UN Development Decade | 1971 to 1980 | A/RES/2626 (XXV), 24 October 1970 |
| Third UN Development Decade | 1981 to 1990 | A/RES/35/56, 5 December 1980 |
| Fourth UN Development Decade | 1991 to 2000 | A/RES/45/199, 21 December 1990 |
The page describes the launch of the First Development Decade in 1961 as a major worldwide effort to give real substance to the Charter’s promise. It also admits that frustration and disappointment over progress must not be allowed to cloud the vision or stand in the way of the objectives. That is a fair summary of the whole field: slow results, and a reason to keep going.
Real world: Think of a long infrastructure project such as a metro line. Years pass between the first plan and the first train. The public needs to keep understanding why it matters, or funding and patience run out long before the benefit arrives.
Development is for everyone, or it fails
The UN’s background section is blunt. It says the standard of living for millions of people is still very low, with many undernourished, uneducated, unemployed and lacking basic amenities. It also says the ultimate objective of development is a sustained improvement in the well-being of the individual, with benefits for all. If undue privilege, extremes of wealth and social injustice persist, development fails at its essential purpose.
That framing matters for technology. The same page says science and technology offer unprecedented opportunities, and that these should be shared fairly across countries. Developing countries are asked to keep raising spending on research and development, with appropriate help from the rest of the world, so the technological gap can shrink.
Information and communications technology
The UN page says information and communications technologies (ICT) can offer new solutions to development challenges. It lists economic growth, competitiveness, access to information and knowledge, poverty eradication and social inclusion as areas where they can help.
It is equally clear about the obstacles that developing countries face in accessing these technologies: insufficient resources, infrastructure, education, capacity, investment and connectivity, plus questions about technology ownership, standards and flows. Stakeholders are asked to provide resources, capacity building and technology transfer on mutually agreed terms.
The digital divide, in numbers
The UN page raises the concern about the digital divide, meaning the gap in access to ICT tools and broadband between countries at different levels of development. That gap affects government, business, health and education. It singles out the broadband challenges of least developed countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries.
The International Telecommunication Union’s Facts and Figures 2025 report gives a current picture:
- About 6 billion people are online, roughly three-quarters of the world.
- 2.2 billion remain offline, and 96% of them live in low- and middle-income countries.
- 85% of urban residents are online, compared with 58% of rural residents.
- 77% of men are online, compared with 71% of women.
- 94% of people in high-income countries use the internet, against 23% in low-income countries.
Two points stand out. First, being “online” is not one thing. The same report notes that 5G covers 84% of the population in high-income countries and only 4% in low-income countries, and that data access remains unaffordable in around 60% of low- and middle-income countries. Second, the divide is not only about wires. It also covers cost, quality and skills.
Where AI fits in
AI changes the picture in two opposite ways, and both are worth holding in mind.
The hopeful side. A lot of information has always been locked behind language, literacy and format. AI can translate, summarize, read aloud and answer questions in plain speech. That lowers the skills needed to use information.
India’s Bhashini platform is a public example. Launched in July 2022 under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, it offers text translation across 22 Indian languages and voice features in 12, along with tools for translating documents and video. Used well, tools like this let a person read a government notice or a health message in the language they speak at home.
The risky side. AI also depends on things the divide already rations: connectivity, devices, electricity, data, computing power and the skills to judge an answer. A tool that needs a fast connection helps those who already have one. Models trained mostly on a few languages serve those languages best. If these gaps are ignored, AI can widen the distance that information was supposed to close.
Real world: A farmer with a smartphone and a voice assistant in her own language can ask about weather, prices or a crop disease. A farmer without signal, or whose language the model handles poorly, gets nothing. The tool is the same, but the outcome depends on access.
What this means for people who build technology
If you design, deploy or operate systems, the day offers a useful checklist. These are questions to ask, not rules from the UN:
- Who is left out? Check low bandwidth, older phones and limited data plans, not just your own test device.
- Which languages and formats? Text-only, English-only products exclude many users.
- Is the information trustworthy? An AI answer delivered confidently to someone who cannot verify it carries more risk, not less.
- Is it affordable? A service priced or sized for a high-income user is not a development tool.
- Does anyone know it exists? This is the original point of the day. Reaching people with information is a job in itself.
From decades to the Sustainable Development Goals
Today the work is framed by the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN describes them as a blueprint for a better and more sustainable future for all, covering global challenges including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.
Information runs through every one of those goals. You cannot cut poverty if people do not know which schemes they qualify for. You cannot respond to climate risk if warnings do not reach the coast in time. You cannot improve health if guidance arrives in a language people do not read. So while the SDGs name the targets, information is the delivery layer that gets them to people.
How an ordinary person can mark the day
You do not need an event or a budget. A few small habits fit the spirit of the observance:
- Share a reliable source. Pass on one trustworthy, plain-language explainer about a development issue instead of a headline.
- Translate something useful. If you speak two languages, help a family member or neighbour read an official form or message.
- Teach one digital skill. Showing someone how to verify a message, back up a phone or use a government portal is development work at the smallest scale.
- Read the source. The UN page and the ITU report linked below are short and worth ten minutes.
One-minute recap
| Concept | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| World Development Information Day | 24 October observance set up in 1972 to raise awareness of development problems | Public campaigns, school and media programmes |
| Mobilizing public opinion | Building public understanding so that development policies have support | A health message in the local language |
| ICT for development | Using information and communications technology to speed growth and inclusion | Mobile banking, online public services |
| Digital divide | Gap in access to ICT and broadband between and within countries | 85% urban vs 58% rural online |
| AI and access | AI can lower language and literacy barriers, but needs connectivity, data and skills | Multilingual translation tools like Bhashini |
The takeaway
World Development Information Day is easy to overlook because it has no single cause attached to it. That is its point. Development works when people understand the problem, trust the information, and can act on it. Technology, including AI, can carry information further than ever before, but only to those who can reach it. Closing that last gap is as much a development task as building a road.
References and further reading
Websites and reports
- United Nations, World Development Information Day, 24 October: the source for the history, purpose and ICT and digital divide passages.
- International Telecommunication Union, Facts and Figures 2025: Connecting the world and beyond: global internet use, offline population, and gaps by income, location and gender.
- UNICEF, Bhashini AI: Making Languages More Accessible with Digital Technology: what Bhashini is and the languages it supports.
- United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals: the wider blueprint the observance supports.