Publications

Africa and Asia together will account for 86 per cent of all growth in the world’s urban population over the next four decades, adding that this unprecedented increase will pose new challenges in terms of jobs, housing and infrastructure. Africa’s urban population will increase from 414 million to over 1.2 billion by 2050 while that of Asia will soar from 1.9 billion to 3.3 billion, according to the 2011 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects, produced by the UN Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

The largest increases in urban population are expected in the following countries: India, China, Nigeria, the United States and Indonesia…

The World Youth Report 2007 examines the challenges and opportunities existing for the roughly 1.2 billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24 in the world. Distinct from the 2003 and 2005 editions, it provides a regional overview summarizing the major youth development trends in the fifteen priority areas of the World Programme of Action for Youth.

The report explores major issues of concern to youth development, including employment, education, health, poverty and violence. At the same time, it highlights youth as a positive force for development and provides recommendations for supporting their essential contributions.

“The social, economic and political costs of a prolonged youth unemployment crisis are high. It is therefore obvious that there is an urgency in addressing the youth employment crisis, but youth employment cannot be tackled without the involvement and participation of youth. It is with this in mind that the current World Youth Report is dedicated to the voices of young people themselves,” said Ms. Daniela Bas, Director of UN DESA’s Division for Social Policy and Development at today’s launch.

Released in December 2011, the report Disability and the Millennium Development Goals: A Review of the MDG Process and Strategies for Inclusion of Disability Issues in Millennium Development Goal Efforts, examines the MDGs and its relation to disability issues with a view to impact the post-2015 development agenda. It is intended to provide a “road map” for how and why disability can and should be included in the planning, monitoring and evaluation of MDG-related programmes and policies.

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.

The report focuses on the social and economic wellbeing of older persons and documents the demographics of older age; their economic status and participation in the labour force; the health of older persons; and the societal perceptions and social integration of older persons. On each of these topics, the report attempts to account for the diversity of situations of older persons in society and across the world. It also attempts to capture the changing reality and perceptions of old age as well old persons’ own views.

The report is based on recent research and empirical data from various sources available to the United Nations Secretariat, and includes a range of up-to-…

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.

“The economic crisis reminds us that it is essential for people to be healthy, educated, adequately housed and well fed to be more productive and better able to contribute to society,” said Jomo Kwame Sundaram, DESA’s Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development. “Social policy should be an integral part of economic policy.”

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.

The perceptions of the role of women and men in families have changed over the past few decades. Men are no longer perceived as the economic providers to families.  The role of men in the family has undergone many “diverse demographic, socio-economic and cultural transformations” impacting the formation, stability and overall well-being of families. In light of this development, DESA’s Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) launched a new publication on “Men in Families and Family Policy in a Changing World” on 17 February focusing on the shifting roles and views of men in families.

The World Youth Report focus on youth and climate change, and is intended to highlight the important role young people play in addressing climate change, and to offer suggestions on how young people might be more effectively integrated as individuals and collective agents of change within the realm of climate change adaptation and mitigation. The Report is designated to assist youth and youth organizations in educating themselves and to become more actively involved in combating the threat of climate change. It is also meant to affirm the status of young people as key stakeholders in the fight against climate change. The publication comes at a time when efforts to address climate change…