Publications

The 2019 Energy Balances contains energy balances for more than 220 countries and territories, showing production, trade, transformation and consumption (by sector) in energy units for all energy products.

Demographic Yearbook 2020 is the 71st issue in a series published since 1948. Through the cooperation with the National Statistical Offices, official demographic statistics are compiled in the Yearbook, as available for more than 230 countries and areas of the world up to the reference year 2020. This edition of the Yearbook contains chapters on the population size and distribution, the population of capital cities, fertility, fetal mortality, infant and maternal mortality, general mortality, nuptiality and divorce.

The Statistical Yearbook is an annual compilation of a wide range of international economic, social and environmental statistics on over 200 countries and areas, compiled from sources including UN agencies and other international, national and specialized organizations. The 2020 edition contains data available to the Statistics Division as of 31 July 2021 and presents them in 34 tables on topics such as: communication; crime; development assistance; education; energy; environment; finance; gender; international merchandise trade; international tourism; labor force; national accounts; population and migration; price and production indices; and science and technology. Most tables covering…

This is the sixty-second issue of National Accounts Statistics: Main Aggregates and Detailed Tables, showing detailed national accounts estimates for over 200 countries and areas for the reporting years 2009 to 2020. The national data for each country and area are presented in separate chapters using uniform table headings and classifications recommended in the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA). A summary of the conceptual framework of the SNA and definitions of important terms are also included in this publication. Other statistical information covered includes gross domestic product, national income, savings, private and government consumption, and transactions of…

The World Statistics Pocketbook, 2021 edition is the forty-fifth in a series of annual compilations of key statistical indicators prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Over 50 indicators have been collected from more than 20 international statistical sources and are presented in one-page profiles for 30 world geographical regions and 232 countries or areas. The Pocketbook is organized into 5 sections; general information, economic indicators, major trading partners, social indicators, and environmental and infrastructure indicators. This issue presents data for the economic, social, environmental and infrastructure…

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”,…

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…