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UN DESA Policy Brief No. 145: On the importance of monitoring inequality in life expectancy
Financing and enhancing statistical capacity for high-quality, timely and reliable disaggregated data in developing countries, is essential to better understand and respond to inequalities in life expectancy.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 144: Moving Beyond GDP and Achieving Our Common Agenda with Natural Capital Accounting
With the climate and biodiversity crises raging, Our Common Agenda stresses the urgent need to go beyond GDP, including through country implementation of the SEEA.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 143: Caregiving in an ageing world
Rethinking approaches to long-term care will benefit today’s older persons and those who care for them, but also future generations of older persons. Countries should consider a more equitable, person-centred approach to care, operating across governments, businesses, civil society, communities and households to address needs in the provision of both formal and informal care.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 142: Old-age poverty has a woman’s face
An agenda on gender equality aimed at reducing women’s poverty, including in old age, should promote women’s labour market participation and decent work, ease their care burden and improve women’s pension coverage as well as pension adequacy.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 141: A just green transition: concepts and practice so far
A globally just transition requires international support for developing countries that takes into account their’ realities, capacities, and priorities. Greening measures and strategies shouldn’t push people in other countries behind.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 140: A World of 8 Billion
Wealthy countries and the international community should support sustainable development in low-income and lower-middle-income countries by providing the necessary technical and financial assistance so that their economies can grow rapidly using technologies that minimise environmental harms.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 137: Ensuring SDG progress amid recurrent crises
SDG progress has been set back, and the outlook faces uncertainty given the cumulative and amplified impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and climate change. The crises impact all countries, albeit unequally.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 135: Cryptoassets and so-called “stablecoins”: Where do we go from here?
While they have been touted for their potential to increase the efficiency of financial transactions and to support financial inclusion, their high volatility and largely unregulated and quasi-anonymous nature has raised concerns over investor protection and financial integrity, and increasingly also financial stability and international spillovers.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 134: The Great Finance Divide
Developing countries will need reliable access to affordable financing, and also need to manage and use these resources well to translate financing into SDG progress, enhanced productivity and fiscal capacity to service debt.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 133: Migration Trends and Families
It is indispensable to incorporate a family perspective into migration policy analysis. Since families socialize and provide economically and emotionally for the next generation, they should be seen as essential for migrants’ integration into new societies. Thus, policies facilitating family reunification, social protection and intergenerational support are key in successful integration.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 131: Credit rating agencies and sovereign debt: Four proposals to support achievement of the SDGs
Credit ratings play an important role providing information on sovereign borrowers. But financial markets, including credit ratings, often over-emphasize short-term economic concerns, and underweight longer-term issues, including environmental and social risks as well as investment in resilience and sustainability.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 130: Why population growth matters for sustainable development
World population continues to grow and is expected to peak at a level of almost 11 billion around the year 2100. Most of this growth will take place in low-income and lower middle-income countries.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 129: The monetary policy response to COVID-19: the role of asset purchase programmes
Central banks have relied heavily on unconventional monetary policy tools, especially large-scale asset purchases, to respond to the pandemic. These programmes have helped to stabilize financial markets and kickstart economic recovery. But the central bank asset purchases have also contributed to an underpricing of risk and sharp increases in asset prices.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 128: Addressing climate change through sport
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our times. Sports plays an important role as part of the solution.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 125: Improving compatibility of approaches to identify, verify and align investments to sustainability goals
Regulators and other market participants have introduced a variety of mandatory and voluntary approaches to help investors align investments with sustainability goals.