The World Today & It's Key Socio-economic Perspectives: Is The Balance Between The Civil Society & The Evil Society Tilted?
The World Today & It's Key Socio-economic Perspectives: Is The Balance Between The Civil Society & The Evil Society Tilted?
Now, the middle eastern war is certainly the centre of attention. But if we turn back time a little, where were we? In 'Decade of Distress'? Has it led up to the stage where we are in now?
Waking up in the morning I often ask myself as to who am I, what role do I play and should play in the family, organisation and society? How do I contribute (in my own small way) to the world that we live in? Many might face similar conundrums as well. Yes, in this first issue of the year, we plan to do a quick health check of us and the world around us. We plan an inter-disciplinary approach touching key socio-economic perspectives while swinging between the micro and macro range.
As we know, "human society consists of acting units and acting people, and all activity in society springs from such acting units" (Blumer, 1962). Hence, the characteristics, quality of this individual unit that is 'human' plays a significant role in the overall sustainable development of any society and economy.
Before we analyse further let’s take a quick look at some of the key socio-economic statistics of the human society we live in.
How Is Our World Today?
The World Today & It's Key Socio-economic Perspectives: Is The Balance Between The Civil Society & The Evil Society Tilted?
How many of us makes the world/human society & where are we located?
Decade of Distress?
Starting from birth-to-death, as individuals, we may broadly classify our life into five stages (as shown in Figure 1 below). Each stage has specific primary focus. Our lives are impacted by micro as well as macro environment. They are often inter-related, inter-dependent and interchangeable. Recent research notes that there has been a global rise in unhappiness over the past decade (which is now being called as the Decade of Distress) and that negative emotions remain high. In 2024, 39% of adults worldwide reported experiencing a lot of worry the previous day, and 37% said the same about stress. All are higher than they were a decade ago (Gallup, 2025).
Stage 2: School Age Education/Skills/ health & wellbeing development
Across generations and civilisations, genuine leaders and scholars have resonated with the fact that “Education is a liberating force” and is the foundation of a productive society.
Statistically speaking, as of 2025, there were over 2.4 billion children worldwide who are under the age of 18. Of this population, roughly 765 million pupils are in primary education, while approximately 250 million children and youth are out of school (UN, 2025).
Now, coming to the biggest democracy in the world where world's large majority of human units reside today, International Labour Organisation (2024) reported, "Young Indians are more likely to be jobless if they are educated and that the unemployment rate for young people with secondary or higher education was six times higher at 18.4 per cent".
Similarly, in one the world's most dominant superpower nations- the US, in what appears to be a disturbing and shocking situation is that, there is "The Rise of the Hyper Educated Poor". Contrary to the previous belief that the key to financial success is higher education and college and to fulfill the great American dream of the yesteryears, today, there is a growing horde of academics living in poverty points to the fact that Master's and PhD degrees are no savior from a lower income. Many adjuncts make only $2,500 to $3,000 for a three-credit course that is disbursed over an entire 15-week semester and even fall short to make a poverty level wages, well under $30,000 a year, and have to rely upon public assistance, such as food stamps (Meszaros, 2015).
In Australia too, between 2016 and 2022, overall enrolments in the higher education sector have dropped by 4% as people think that University degree doesn't lead to a better job. To meet the cost-of-living pressures, young people are working more in multiple jobs but less inclined towards formal education (Victoria University, 2018). And, according to a 2024 Productivity Commission report, labor productivity in Australia has stagnated since the COVID-19 pandemic- a fact that needs to be urgently addressed. These are just a very quick glimpse touching just into the aspect of education.
According to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), there are 237 countries in total, of which 195 are recognised by the United Nations (BBC, 2025). According to the United Nations (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs' World Economic Situation and Prospects report, as of January 2025, only 37 of the total countries of the world are classified as "developed economies" with just two Asian economies making to the list. On the other side of the spectrum are the 44 economies designated by the UN as the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), including 8 Asian economies. The remaining being in the range of developing economies.
The world population is projected to reach approximately 8.3 billion people by mid-2026. With its approx. 1.47 billion (or nearly 18% of the world population), India is expected to be the most populous, followed by China (approx. 1.41 billion). Combined with a few of its Asian neighbours this cohort makes over 50% of the global population or half of the world (Worldometer, 2026). That means, based on population statistics, the human weight of the world is tilted towards Asia.
Stage 1: Birth & Existence
According to the recent statistics, as of 2023, globally, there were approximately 690 million children under the age of 5; About 90% of whom live in Low and Middle-income Countries (Our world in data, 2026).
Though significant progress has been made over the past three decades in the areas of child and maternal health, yet that is not enough to make a mark in this domain and the statistics still reveal grim reality.
Even today, child mortality has been one of the world’s largest problems. On an average, globally, 4.8 million children under 5 years of age died in the year 2024 alone. Around 16,000 children under 15 and over 700 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. The primary cause of child mortality can be attributed to malnutrition and lack of access to pre-natal care (UNICEF, 2025).
All of which could be avoided if proper efforts are made in this direction.
©Aei4eiA, 2026
Stage 3: Employment & Self-reliance
The latest Employment and Social Trends 2026 report notes, globally, some 186 million people are out of work; nearly 300 million workers are living in extreme poverty, earning less than $3 a day; around 2.1 billion people will be working in the informal sector this year, with limited access to social protection, rights at work, and job security (UN News, 2026).
ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2024 report reveals, the growing inequalities and stagnant productivity are causes for concern as beneath these numbers, fragility is starting to emerge. Also, the income and wealth inequality remains at very high levels. For instance, today, the top 10% of the global population’s income-earners earn more than the remaining 90%, while the poorest half of the global population captures less than 10% of the total global income.
It further projects that the labour market outlook and global unemployment will both worsen. The formal sector is not creating enough jobs so the informal sector looks set to remain the largest provider of jobs for youth going ahead. Disposable incomes have declined in the majority of G20 countries with the erosion of living standards resulting from inflation (ILO, 2024).
At this junction, the gig economy is rising its head. As of 2025, approximately 435 million people worldwide were engaged in some form of gig work. This includes freelance, contract and platform-based employment. The gig economy represents between 4.4% and 12.5% of the global labour force (DemandSage, 2023). During the year 2023, over 1.1 billion jobs were completed through gig platforms.
Emerging markets, such as India, Brazil, Nigeria and Indonesia contributed significantly to this growth. The countries added over 32 million new gig workers, which accounted for 21% of global expansion (Market Growth Reports, 2023). The rise of gig work is laden with complex challenges like uncertainties about their employment status, lack of social protections, long or irregular working hours and low and inconsistent pay (Market Growth Reports, 2023). Owing to the acute lack of well-suited employment opportunities, many has been taking on these gig jobs (IJFMR, 2025). At least something is better than nothing.
Now, let's take a quick look at the small business. According to a recent report, micro and small businesses account for 90% of businesses, more than 70% of employment, and 50% of GDP worldwide. It remains the core of the economy for most societies (ICSB, 2024). As far as Australia is concerned, overall, there were 2,729,648 actively trading businesses in Australia as of 30 June 2025. 44% of which are Companies and only 398 are public sector businesses; 97.2% of all business in Australia are small businesses (0-19 employees) and a further 2.4% are medium businesses (67,857), employing 20-199 employees and the remaining 0.2% of businesses in Australia have more than 200 employees - 63.5% of small businesses do not have any employees, 25.2% employ between 1-4 people and 8.5% employ between 5-19 people (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2025).
How are the small businesses faring? A small business owner says, “We small business owners are doing everything from delivery to administration to marketing, while also carrying the mental load of financial pressure. Many feel like they’re doing all the right things but still not getting traction. This uncertainty becomes exhausting" (SMH, 2026). The operating environment that include higher cost of operation, low and slow consumer demand, longer decision cycles, insufficient capital, inadequate business planning, lack of experience or focus to run business are some of the key factors identified as the reasons as to why 90% of small businesses fail. But are these not just the black and white challenges the small businesses face? What about the grey areas and the under currents? Are they the actual latent reasons? We shall scruitinise them in the following sections.
These uncertainties surrounding people and businesses are sometime daunting and affects the World’s Emotional Health. A recently published research notes that globally, negative emotions remain high and the decade may be termed as 'A Decade of Distress'. Emotions of stress, sadness and anger are all higher than they were a decade ago impacting their resilience. The erosion of coping capacity/tolerance of a society is becoming chronic, making individuals and societies more vulnerable to instability leading to increase in unrest, conflicts and higher death tolls. (Gallup, 2025).
In this conditions would we expect a stable family environment? Let's take a look.
Stage 4: Family & Stability
As we know, family relationships play an important role in the wellbeing of individuals forming the basis of a stable and healthy mind. Marriage, as a social institution, has been around for thousands of years. A healthy marriage has been a binding force adding to the stability of a family, the individuals and eventually the workplace productivity and society. However, the recent statistics notes that in many countries, marriage rates are declining significantly and at the same time, there has been an increase in partnerships outside of marriage which is more open-ended and provide the relevant parties opportunities to break free faster should the relationship sour.
Simultaneously, the issues of domestic violence (that is mistreatment of one family member or intimate partner by another) is on the rise. According to a recent statistic, nearly 1 in 3 women – estimated 840 million globally – have experienced partner or sexual violence during their lifetime (UN, 2025). Though women are more likely than men to experience violence, yet the latter is also not immune from this menace. For instance, in Australia, 1 in 4 (23% or 2.3 million) women and 1 in 14 (7.3% or 693,000) men have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner since the age of 15 (IPV, 2026). The key factors attributed to the rise of domestic violence include economic pressures, substance abuse, mental health issues, and deeply rooted cultural attitudes toward gender and violence (Australian Law Advocates, n.d)
The UN in its overview of global marriage patterns notes that in many countries, marriage rates are declining significantly and that there is a general upward trend: "at the world level, the proportion of adults aged 35-39 who are divorced or separated has doubled, passing from 2% in the 1970s to 4% in the 2000s. Single parenting has also become common and has increased in many countries" (Herre, 2020).
In an extensive work published by the US Department of Justice Wright & Wright (1993) notes, families serve as one of the strongest socializing forces in a person's life the converse is equally true. They help teach children to control unacceptable behavior, to delay gratification, and to respect the rights of others. Conversely, families can also teach children aggressive, antisocial, and violent behavior. In adults' lives, family responsibilities may provide an important stabilizing force. Given these possibilities, family life may directly contribute to the development of delinquent and criminal tendencies. Also, it may be vulnerable to infiltration of anti-social elements in the family orbit. We will talk more about it in the later part of this paper.
Stage 5: Elder Care & Self-reliance Of The Elderly
This stage is usually reached by an individual after many decades of contribution and hard work. Health and wellbeing issues are of prime importance at this stage. Either aged person resort to family for care or if feasible buy care from aged carers.
Around the world, the number of people living longer than average is going up with the average life expectancy is approximately 73–74 years as of 2026. In 2000, the number of people over 75 was about 152 million. As of 2023, that number has almost doubled to 300.8 million (Cleveland Clinic, 2024). In 2020, the number of people aged 60 years and older outnumbered children younger than 5 years. By 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 60 years or over. But statistics reveal that globally, just 23% of adults age successfully. Key factors for success include physical activity, proper nutrition, and social engagement (NIH, 2024).
All countries are currently facing major challenges to ensure that their health and social systems are ready to make the most of this demographic shift. Interestingly, by 2050, 80% of the world's older population will live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where rapid aging coincides with fragile health systems, lack of pension coverage, and high poverty rates, limited access to care, forced labor, and significant health, social, and economic vulnerability (WHO, 2025).
Increased longevity brings in many challenges as well, that include, managing chronic, age-related diseases and financial security to list a few. The society therefore needs to adjust to smoothen this emerging trend. Health is one of the key areas to consider during this phase. If for instance, people can experience these extra years of life in good health and if they live in a supportive environment, their ability to do the things they value will be better. On the other hand, added years are dominated by declines in physical and mental capacity, the implications for older people and for society are more negative (NIH, 2024).
Multiple research projects have confirmed that globally there is an acute shortage of aged care services. What impact will the ageing population have on the working population then? According to a recent research conducted here in Australia, by 2050, the nation would have only 2.7 people in the workforce for every person over 65. This meant people could expect to work longer, while workplaces would need to adapt to keep workers engaged and productive across decades (UNSW, 2025).
Is this ageing population prone to vulnerabilities? Let’s talk about it in the next section.
Why The Mess?
We have seen in all the previous sections of this article that more needs to be done in each sphere (life stages) identified here.
What led us to this ‘decade of distress’ that we are currently in. How did we land here? Does the recent release of the Epstein files shed any light as to how the world of inequality runs. Can we match the current situation that negatively impacts the majority of us with the atrocities and the dysfunctions that entangled hermits-to-henchmen, bankers, elites, politicians and educators alike.
The impact of the files touched vast majority of significant countries of the world and important decision makers from across the globe- whose decisions or malfunctioning have impacted each of our lives even at the micro level. Referring to those files, Gardazi (2026) rightly notes, “As the international community scans three million pages of testimony and digital forensics, we have to understand that the document is not an account of personal deviance. It is a postmortem of structural weaknesses in our global governance".
Is such systemic dysfunction an extension of organised crime or a much-integrated global network controlled by some veiled regimes to gain geo-political control. These may sound a bit complicated and for many who do not bother to delve deeper into the challenges, may even find them fictitious. Perhaps, a bit of pondering is required at this point so that the ‘decade of distress’ does not prolong into a ‘century of distress’.
Needless to mention that the boundaries of the core unit of this global dysfunction i.e the organised crime network have become transnational rather than localised a decade ago. With access to the local markets, their services are now being sought by regime-backed terror groups (See Figure 2).
Therefore, a not so complicated looking telephone scam, a job market advertisement scam, a popular video games exploiting the vulnerability of kids, a lover-boy scam, a matrimonial matchmaking, challenging business environment for small businesses or for that matter behaviour of teachers in schools or sporting club may all have a bearing. Believe it or not, there are facts galore that the tentacle of evil is much closer than one might even apprehend. The magnitude of such inter-linkages may certainly look mind-boggling. Let’s take a look then and see how far it can be tallied with one’s own situation.
The Australian Institute of Criminology (2018) writes, “Organised crime seldom operates in a vacuum. It often relies on other forms of crime, such as theft, fraud and extortion to raise funds and on violence and money laundering to achieve successful criminal outcomes”.
Let’s take a top-down approach. The 2026 revelations through the files indicate that there has been a huge disconnection between the decision makers/elites and the states/causes they are meant to represent (Gardazi, 2026) notes, “According to the archives, the credibility of some of the historic global agreements of the past 10 years might not have been influenced by a change in national interests, but rather by the personal weaknesses of the signatories”. How have global elites of such magnitude bent and stooped in front of evil powers? By choice, circumstance created by the evil powers, coercion, peer pressure or by blackmail?
As innumerable body of research has documented, blackmail is a geopolitical variable a risk to the economy and society from the macro to the micro level and have become the most prized currency of the evils, anti-socials and criminals around the world. Today, it has reached such a magnitude that one may even feel its presence over the shoulders.
A recent report published by the United Nations (2024), highlighted the menace of the infiltration of organized crime into the legal economy is growing, and has a serious impact on the economy and society. Once the decision makers are compromised it becomes just an easy task to take control of the entire gamut of the economy and society, one after another and without much resistance. The consequence- the erosion of economy and society, unrest and chaos, spiralling problems related to growth and development of the society.
The evil forces generally exploit the negative human emotions of greed, jealousy, anger or lust and steer, create a situation of captivating the target and using them for as long as possible to their advantage. Ironically, many fall prey to these circumstances.
The flow chart of process of how evils infiltrate may be summarised below-
Step 1 : Take control of key decision makers at the macro level. This allows un-hindered access to resources and strategic information.
Step 2 : Infiltrate into legal organisations/entities ranging from healthcare, education, welfare system, social security, defence, media, telecom and more; from micro to macro level while grasping whatever comes along the way. For, it’s a multiplier effect.
Step 3: Active and continuous social engineering process begins using the resources gathered and continuously multiplied- redefining what is right and wrong. Promoting evil practices while cornering or subduing high performers and non-compliant, dividing society and breaking social structures and cohesion.
Step 4: Isolating, creating and maintaining a constant pressure environment, increasing entry barriers for resource, causing physical or mental harm to non-conforming players.
Step 5: Mission to take overall control accomplished unless stopped/interrupted.
A recent UN report notes, the infiltration of organized crime into the legal economy is growing, and has a serious impact on the economy and society. Le Moglie and Sorrenti (2020) writes, “Organised crime has globalised and turned into one of the world’s foremost economic and armed powers. Its illegal activities and illicit flows affect the entire world, and they generate revenues of around $870 billion per year”. How does they multiply the revenue/profit on a continuous basis? the Commonwealth Organised Crime Strategic Framework (2023) identifies the infiltration of organised crime groups into legitimate sectors of the economy- providing business loans to unassuming entrepreneurs, efficiently distributing illicit goods to a large market, damaging the integrity of an occupation or industry where infiltration by organised crime groups attracts and shelters disreputable participants and repels reputable participants or entrants ; propensity for more general unlawful conduct when operating a legitimate business, including in relation to tax, occupational health and safety, and workplace relations laws;
The organised criminal groups once settled within the licit economy then targets people from multiple age-groups and stages of life. And, there are evidence galore of the instances and havoc that wreck because of the same.
Take for example the infiltration of organised crime in the education sector. Senior Australian criminal intelligence expert note, “Organised crime are parasites. They feed off the problem we’ve long had in Australia with lost, disengaged kids. They groom them as cheap dispensable labour. They always have, but now social media has given them a huge recruiting ground.” (Groch, 2025).
The newly launched #DontBeAMule campaign launched by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and other law enforcement agencies to raise awareness about criminals recruiting financially vulnerable students – particularly from overseas – as money mules, is a testimony to the fact that the vested interest groups/organised criminals infiltration into the education system and what could be worse than if they catch them young. Coupled with the above are the issues of immigration fraud, fake schools, fake students and its cascading effect (The Age, 2023).
The employment agencies are believed to be prone to infiltration that may provide a site for organised labour trafficking and labour exploitation of workers on short-term visas, international students, and migrant workers (AIC, 2024).
(Alesina et al. 2018) notes, investment in and sponsorship of sporting clubs could even be vehicle for criminal conduct. Thanks to the increasingly close relationship between organized crime groups and public officials such as national or local politicians and public administrators organized crime has become highly pervasive and fully integrated into the everyday socio-economic and political life of many countries in the world (Allum and Siebert 2003; Le Moglie and Sorrenti 2020).
Organized criminal networks use "lover boy" or "Romeo" tactics as a deceptive method to groom and manipulate individuals for the purpose of human trafficking and exploitation is also a very common ploy. This technique involves establishing a fraudulent romantic relationship to build trust before coercing victims into exploitative situations (Europol, 2025).
The elderly have long been a choice target of cyber criminals who often strip them of life savings and other cash reserves. In Australia criminals have taken it to a new level: offering their victims to get their money back by serving as drug mules (OCCRP ID, 2022).
Have you ever wondered, why so many incompetent people get promoted or highlighted at multiple forums? Australian Institute of Criminology (2020) notes, “Organised criminal groups and corrupt networks frequently promote, install, or protect less competent individuals to maintain control, ensure loyalty, and facilitate criminal activities. This practice often involves placing complicit, vulnerable, or easily manipulated persons in positions of authority to avoid detection and enhance illicit operations”. Distortion of Markets, Erosion of Public Trust, Burnout and Turnover of High-functioning individuals and Facilitation of Crimes is what follows.
Australian Federal Police (2025) warns that organised crime syndicates are increasingly targeting unemployed, middle-aged, and vulnerable individuals, using them as "unwitting" or coerced participants in illicit activities such as money laundering and drug trafficking. These groups exploit the financial distress and desperation of people struggling to find work, often masquerading as legitimate employers to lure them into scams like "quick cash" jobs on social media and employment platforms, money muling where in unemployed individuals are recruited to deposit illicit cash into ATMs or move funds offshore. They are often being flown across Australia to collect and transfer money; drug trafficking; identity theft and fraud.
Now, let’s look at some of the macro-level instances. UNCTAD (2025) says, "Public debt can be vital for development. Governments use it to finance expenditures, protect and invest in their people and pave the way to a better future. However, when public debt grows excessively or its costs outweigh its benefits, it becomes a heavy burden. This is precisely what is happening across the developing world today". Take for example the massive investment Clean India Mission approximately costing $30 billion said to be spent on sanitation infrastructure and behavior change campaigns since its 2014 launch. The project included a $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank to support rural sanitation (SBM-Gramin). Huge amount of public debt. Yet, it is certainly disheartening to note that over a decade of the launch of this expensive and highly promoted initiative, a recent report released in 2025 based on WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme database enlisted the country amongst the top 4 dirtiest countries of the world out of the 115 countries assessed based on air 30%, water25%, waste25%, and hygiene20% (Ultimate Ki, 2026).
The recent loss of innocent lives in Bondi terror attack indicates that terrorism remains a global threat. The Institute for Economics & Peace (2025) notes, the number of countries experiencing at least one terrorist incident increased from 58 to 66, the most countries affected since 2018. Emerging technologies particularly artificial intelligence are being used providing new avenues for terrorist expansion. AI can produce believable deep fake content (high quality online magazines to AI-enhanced video, including news programs), provide immersive experiences, better intelligence on targets and produce believable tailored propaganda, faster. Extremists use strategic communication through internet and social media to build credibility and legitimacy, seed chaos and divide societies to further their own objectives. These illegal economies have often existed for a long time in places with weak governance. Given the situation. What is the way forward?
Your Next Skill Starts Here!
What Is The Way Forward?
The grim realities that were summarised in the previous paragraphs compels to forget about productivity and sustainable development when the very existence is at stake.
What is the way forward then? Today, I am reminded of a conversation that I had with an ‘expert’ at the beginning of my entrepreneurship journey 15 years ago. During the discussion when I shared my vision of taking the entrepreneurship journey forward as a qualified migrant woman in a new land that I just began exploring, the person said, “You seem to be a good girl. But don’t you know that good girls don’t get the corner office”. Well, at first, I was seriously disheartened. Then, the ever hopeful in me responded, “Who cares about the corner office when I can create a centre stage and be on it”.
No such journey is devoid of challenges, but a willingness to cross the barriers what come may, constantly upgrading skills and adapting to the everchanging environment is the only way to stay afloat.
Perhaps the same role one can play in the economy and society. As one of the responsible inhabitants of the world, is it not our duty to stay aware of the changing world around us, have a sense of responsibility to create and make things better of self and people around us without stooping to the evil forces. Next time when you see a business going bust or a family undergoing breakup or some unusual matrimonial alliance in the family, the reason might even be something else rather than just what is visible.
We thought it might be handy to look at the following societal classification (Figure 3) and a tool to self-check and be aware of where we stand. Writing this article involved months of research, years of experience and leading from the front.
Believe it or not, the initially alluring and subsequently dignity crushing and intimidating evil society can never be any rewarding. Mind the steps!