Following decades of advocacy by small island developing States (SIDS), the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted, without a vote, a resolution outlining the new Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI), which “aims to capture exogenous vulnerabilities and lack of resilience to exogenous shocks of… developing countries, so as to ensure credibility and comparability.”

The High-level Panel of Experts on an MVI for SIDS developed the Index and presented its conclusions in a 2023 report.

In its resolution (A/78/L.98), the UNGA decides to advance the MVI, stressing that its use is “voluntary, guided by the specific needs of the end user and informed by national contexts” and that the Index “should not be used directly or indirectly as a criterion to limit or hinder the ability of any developing country to access development cooperation.”

The UNGA encourages the UN development system to gather and share lessons learned from the MVI’s early implementation, with a view to improving the Index. It invites the international financial institutions (IFIs), international organizations, multilateral development banks (MDBs), and other development partners to explore using the MVI as a complement to their existing practices and policies, taking into account national priorities.

The UNGA further decides that the MVI will be maintained by: a relevant existing UN entity, which will be responsible for the upkeep, maintenance, improvement of, and reporting on the Index; an Independent Expert Advisory Panel, which will prepare recommendations on future technical updates; and the Statistical Commission, which will provide technical reviews.

Welcoming the MVI’s adoption, representatives of SIDS, including Antigua and Barbuda, Fiji, and Seychelles, called for its pilot testing to begin without delay. Other speakers, including representatives from Australia, Portugal, and the UK, supported using this “living tool” to improve development decision making.

Noting that gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national income (GNI) per capita do not reflect the vulnerabilities that SIDS and other developing nations face, the EU urged all stakeholders “to integrate vulnerability factors into their analysis” and action.

Emphasizing the voluntary nature of the Index, the US stressed that IFIs and MDBs have their own mandates and decision-making processes to ensure that they remain able to support the objectives of their members. Colombia said since the Index takes into account exogenous factors, “its application is limited” for his country whose vulnerability will not be reflected by the instrument. He urged IFIs to use the Index as a complement to other development measurements.

The history of the MVI dates back to 1992 when the first call for the development of a globally accepted vulnerability assessment was made at the UN Conference on Environment and Development. The UNGA adopted its resolution titled, ‘Multidimensional Vulnerability Index,’ on 13 August 2024. [Multidimensional Vulnerability Index] [UN Meetings Coverage]