Publications

More countries and communities are recognizing the need to bolster efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in light of the toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on people around the world, according to The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021, released by the United Nations.

The decisions and actions taken during the next 18 months would determine whether pandemic recovery plans would put the world on a course to reach the globally-agreed upon goals that aim to boost economic growth and social well-being while protecting the environment.

According to the report, which tracks global efforts to achieve the SDGs, COVID-19 had caused a major disruption…

New approaches made possible through improved access and Internet connectivity can raise the standard of living for approximately 3.4 billion people living in rural areas, without them having to migrate to cities, according to the newly released 2021 World Social Report “Reconsidering Rural Development.”

The COVID-19 pandemic, together with already persistent high levels of poverty and inequalities, are threatening to stall progress for the world’s rural populations. But the pandemic has also proven that new technologies can enable rural populations to flourish, ending the rural-urban divide.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the new technologies opened up new…

The world’s indigenous peoples call 22 per cent of the global land surface home. They live in areas where you find about 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity and much of the world’s non-commercially exploited land and many of its remaining mineral and forest resources, major rivers, fossil fuels and sources of renewable energy. 

While often described as the custodians of our Earth’s precious resources, they are frequently denied their rights to lands, territories and resources, according to a new UN DESA publication released today. 

The latest volume of the State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples entitled “Rights to Lands, Territories and Resources”,…

COVID-19 has disrupted all forms of human mobility through the closing of national borders and halting of travel worldwide. Preliminary estimates suggest that the pandemic may have slowed the growth in the stock of international migrants by around two million by mid-2020, 27 per cent less than the growth expected since mid-2019, according to a report by the United Nations released today. 

Growth in the number of international migrants has been robust over the last two decades, reaching 281 million people living outside their country of origin in 2020, up from 173 million in 2000 and 221 million in 2010.  Currently, international migrants represent about 3.6 per cent of…

Less than 50% of working-age women are in the labour market, a figure that has barely changed over the last quarter of a century, according to a new UN report launched today. Unpaid domestic and care work falls disproportionately on women, restraining their economic potential as the COVID-19 pandemic additionally affects women’s jobs and livelihoods, the report warns.

The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics compiles 100 data stories that provide a snapshot of the state of gender equality worldwide. Presented on an interactive portal, the report analyses gender equality in six critical areas: population and families; health; education; economic empowerment and…

This guide has been developed as a resource for Member States to provide information about the inclusion of youth in their delegations and offers ideas for those with existing youth delegate programmes on how to potentially strengthen them. It includes sections on establishing a programme, suggestions for possible roles of youth delegates and practicalities to be considered.

The 15-year global effort to improve the lives of people everywhere through the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 was already off track by the end of 2019. And in only a short period of time, the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed an unprecedented crisis, causing further disruption to SDG progress, with the world’s poorest and most vulnerable affected the most.

According to the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020, released by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the world had been making progress—although uneven and insufficient to meet the Goals — in areas such as improving maternal and child health, expanding access to…

Tearing down barriers that prevent more young people from becoming successful social entrepreneurs will contribute to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and tackling the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, according to a new report released today by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

The report calls on governments and other decision-makers to remove obstacles to youth social entrepreneurship, such as access to start-up funds that are presently limiting the ability of young people to engage in profitable activities. Many regulatory systems often prevent — sometimes involuntarily — young people from accessing financial products and services needed…

The Energy Statistics Pocketbook highlights the availability of data on various aspects of energy production, transformation and use and its linkages to other key statistics. It uses visual representations of key energy indicators to facilitate the understanding of the current state and developments in the energy sector. Energy is central to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change, and sound energy statistics are the basis for the reliable measurement of progress, thereby assisting the formulation of policy measures to achieve international and national sustainable development goals.

Growing inequality in both developing and developed countries could exacerbate divisions and slow economic and social development according to a new UN report, the World Social Report 2020, that was launched today. More than two thirds of the world’s population today live in countries where inequality has grown, and inequality is rising again even in some of the countries that have seen inequality decline in recent decades, such as Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.

The impacts of inequality are being felt at the personal and national levels. According to the report, which is produced by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, highly unequal societies are less effective at…

The United Nations National Quality Assurance Frameworks Manual for Official Statistics (UN NQAF Manual) provides recommendations on quality assurance, a UN quality assurance framework, and guidance for the implementation of a national quality assurance framework. The Manual aims at addressing quality assurance in different circumstances and situations, hereby supporting countries in safeguarding the role of official statistics as trusted source of information. The Manual is directed at assuring the quality of official statistics throughout the entire national statistical system but also provides guidance for engagement with entities that are outside of the national statistical system…

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) has been in place for more than a decade. Has it made a difference? What kind of impact has it had on the survival, dignity and well-being of indigenous peoples. How has it been used? What can be learned from the many ways in which it has been applied and from the obstacles encountered? What gaps and challenges still exist that may be preventing the full implementation of the Declaration? What is the way forward to realize the full potential and promise of the Declaration? These are the questions this publication seeks to explore. This edition of the State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (SOWIP)…