Publications

UN Population Division's wall chart on Rural Population, Development and the Environment 2011 presents the latest data available for 15 indicators of rural population, land use, development and environment. It provides estimates at the national, regional and world levels, giving us a better understanding of the relationship between demographic dynamics, natural resources and cultural practices.

This report, published by the Population Division, is the third in the series of the analysis of reproductive behaviour worldwide. It discusses levels and trends of fertility, the timing of childbearing, marriage, contraceptive use and national policies with respect to fertility and childbearing for 196 countries or areas. The data presented are obtained from civil registration statistics, population censuses and nationally representative sample surveys.

The report provides a comprehensive set of mortality estimates for the world’s countries. The objectives of the report are twofold. First, the results of the 2006 Revision of World Population Prospects are used to provide an overview of levels and trends of mortality for 195 countries and areas that had populations of 100,000 or higher in 2007. The second objective is to document the availability of information relevant to the estimation of child and adult mortality at the national level in order to set the basis for the continuing improvement of mortality estimation.

If the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are to be achieved, a serious shortfall in funding must be addressed. This is the stark revelation of the UN’s MDG Gap Task Force report, released today in New York. Introducing the report, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underlined the importance of the report’s findings, saying “we cannot afford to leave the poor even further behind.”

Nothing short of a technological revolution on the scale of the first industrial revolution will be required to meet the challenge of sustainable development. Enormous improvements in human welfare have taken place over the past two centuries, but at a lasting cost of degradation of our natural environment. Continuation along established economic growth paths means that the Earth's capacity to ensure human welfare and serve as a sink for the waste and pollution generated in the creation of that welfare will be exceeded.

The World Economic and Social Survey 2011 analyses the challenges and options involved in shifting to a "green economy" based on more efficient and renewable…

The recovery of the global economy continues, with strong output growth in developing countries and a weaker economic performance in developed countries. Higher energy and food prices have created upward pressure on inflation rates, underpinning the tightening of monetary policy, especially in many developing countries. Employment trends have been improving, but major challenges such as rising long-term unemployment and high youth unemployment in a number of economies remain. World trade of goods and services expanded stronger than expected last year, marking a strong rebound from the severe contraction in 2009 with developing countries, particularly Asian economies with large shares in…

The 2010 Revision of the World Population Prospects is the twenty-second round of global demographic estimates and projections undertaken by the Population Division of DESA. The world population prospects are used widely throughout the UN and by many international organizations, research centers, academic researchers and the media. This new revision was released on 3 May and key findings and projections were presented at a press conference in New York by Hania Zlotnik, Director of DESA’s Population Division. The next revision is due in the first part of 2013.

This publication provides an overview of 145 successful innovations in governance and public administration from 50 countries that received the United Nations Public Service Awards, which is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service.

The purpose of the series is to disseminate, through descriptive case studies, information about innovative practices by:

(i) looking at the problem that led to an innovation;

(ii) the solution that was designed and implemented to respond to the specific challenge;

(iii) the actors and steps involved in the innovation process, and

(iv) lessons learned. Learning more about how public…

The publication predicts weaker global growth in 2011 and 2012 as the recovery has lost momentum since the middle of 2010. World gross product is forecast to expand by 3.1 per cent in 2011 and 3.5 per cent in 2012, following estimated growth of 3.6 per cent in 2010. The report emphasizes that the outlook remains uncertain, surrounded by serious downside risks. It further indicates that, in the short run, more fiscal stimulus will be needed to reinvigorate the global recovery, but that it will need to be better coordinated with monetary policies and reoriented to provide stronger support to employment generation.

The publication presents statistics and analysis on the status of women and men in the world, highlighting the current situation and changes over time. It was prepared to coincide with and in observance of the first-ever World Statistics Day, 20.10.2010. The report is the fifth in the series which has been published every five years, as called for in the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. As in the past editions, the presentation is made in a format and language that non-specialists can readily understand.

Issued in support of the five-year review of the Mauritius Strategy of Implementation for the sustainable development of SIDS, the report highlights the vulnerabilities of SIDS and recent trends in their sustainable development. The key areas covered by the report are climate change, disaster management, trade and finance, tourism and energy. It also covers energy, natural resources and social development. In addition, the report provides a visual summary of progress made by SIDS in attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), based on analysis performed by UNDP and ESCAP.

In the 2010 MDG Gap Task Force Report, UN warns that the shortfalls in meeting agreed actions on combating poverty and raising life standards are jeopardizing the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)...