The World Youth Report on Youth Mental Health and Well-being examines how youth mental health and well-being are shaped by six social determinants, i.e. education, employment, family dynamics, poverty, technology, and societal attitudes. The Report highlights how inequalities in these areas create disparities in mental health outcomes, noting that stigma, discrimination, and unequal access to opportunities and care compound risks for young people. 

Drawing on extensive literature reviews, expert consultations, youth surveys, and real-life youth testimonies, the Report stresses cross-sectoral action, inclusive policies, and youth-led initiatives. Ultimately, it calls for…

As the United Nations marks its 80th anniversary in 2025, this report by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) traces the evolution of sustainable development within the UN system. It highlights the organization’s role in shaping both the understanding and the practical application of sustainable development. 

The UN DESA Annual Highlights report is a tool to communicate the contributions of the Department to the realization of internationally agreed development goals and shared social, economic, and environmental aspirations. It showcases the Department’s role in gauging trends, building capacities, and shaping solutions. UN DESA Highlights 2025 covers activities over the period of the 79th Session of the General Assembly (September 2024 – August 2025) and reflects the Department’s response to the set priorities and expressed needs of Member States. Seven (7) thematic chapters showcase how UN DESA put its expertise to the task of supporting Member State efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda…

Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2025 is the latest edition in an annual series produced by UN Women and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Covering all 17 Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the report spotlights the latest data and evidence on gender equality, tracking trends and revealing progress and gaps.

The 2025 Gender Snapshot sounds the alarm: If current trends continue, the world will reach 2030 with 351 million women and girls still living in extreme poverty and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 5 to achieve gender equality and…

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025 marks the tenth annual stocktaking of global progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With the 2030 deadline only five years away, the report delivers a stark assessment: the Sustainable Development Goals have improved millions of lives, but the current pace of change is insufficient to fully achieve all the Goals by 2030.

The report reveals real and substantial development gains during the past decade. Since 2015, the world has made notable strides in expanding access to education, improving maternal and child health, and bridging the digital divide. Effective prevention efforts have significantly reduced the…

The world economy is at a precarious moment. Heightened trade tensions, along with policy uncertainty, have significantly weakened the global economic outlook for 2025. Higher tariffs—resulting in a significant increase in the effective tariff rate in the United States of America—are likely to strain global supply chains, drive up production costs and delay critical investment decisions, while also contributing to financial market volatility. Global economic growth is now projected to slow to 2.4 per cent in 2025, down from 2.9 per cent in 2024, and 0.4 percentage points below the January forecast. The downward revisions in growth forecasts are broad-based, affecting both developed and…

Economic insecurity, staggering levels of inequality, declining social trust and social fragmentation are destabilizing societies worldwide. The World Social Report 2025, reveals trends that are threatening communities and demand immediate, decisive policy action. The report calls for a new policy consensus anchored in three principles—equity, economic security for all, and solidarity—that are essential to strengthen the three dimensions of sustainable development.

The report is the first to be co-produced with the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). This collaboration brings new research insights into the report,…

In an era marked by complex and interwoven crises, the role of the United Nations in preparing for the future has never been more critical. This review of UN DESA’s foresight and preparedness efforts shows how the Department’s economic and demographic forecasts, capacity development programmes, and work towards accelerating an inclusive and just transition help governments and people make strategic choices to shape and prepare for the future they want.  

The Disability and Development Report 2024, “Accelerating the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with persons with disabilities”, is an update of the 2018 edition of the same flagship report, produced in response to a request by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 75/154 of 23 December 2020.

The report indicates that persons with disabilities are often left behind in the efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, with wide gaps persisting between persons with and without disabilities, particularly on food security, health, and access to energy and ICT. Considering COVID-19, the report assesses the different ways the…

The Disability and Development Report 2024, “Accelerating the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with persons with disabilities”, is an update of the 2018 edition of the same flagship report, produced in response to a request by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 75/154 of 23 December 2020.

The report indicates that persons with disabilities are often left behind in the efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, with wide gaps persisting between persons with and without disabilities, particularly on food security, health, and access to energy and ICT. Considering COVID-19, the report assesses the different ways the…

The Disability and Development Report 2024, “Accelerating the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with persons with disabilities”, is an update of the 2018 edition of the same flagship report, produced in response to a request by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 75/154 of 23 December 2020.

The report indicates that persons with disabilities are often left behind in the efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, with wide gaps persisting between persons with and without disabilities, particularly on food security, health, and access to energy and ICT. Considering COVID-19, the report assesses the different ways the…

According to the World Social Report 2024, urgent global action is needed to support national efforts to address the setbacks caused by the recent global crises, and to avoid the conversion of future shocks to crises.

Titled “Social Development in Times of Converging Crises: A Call for Global Action”, the World Social Report 2024 explains that, in our current global policy environment, shocks more readily turn into crises that cross boundaries, demanding international action.  Particularly as such crises disproportionately impact the most vulnerable people, societies and countries.

Crisis-driven setbacks in poverty reduction and unemployment

Successive shocks,…