The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) emphasized on 7 November 2023 the imperative for international financial reforms to specifically target the financing requirements of the world's 46 least developed countries (LDCs). According to UNCTAD’s Least Developed Countries Report 2023, fiscal constraints in LDCs pose a severe threat to their ability to implement crucial development policies, potentially derailing progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a low-carbon transition. Failure to promptly address the financing needs of LDCs, warns the report, will hinder their development prospects and exacerbate the impact of climate change, especially since 17 out of the 20 countries most vulnerable to and least prepared for climate change are LDCs....

GoI-UNSDCF 2023-2027 represents the UN development system’s collective offer to the Government of India, in line with the national vision for development, for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, promoting gender equality, youth empowerment and human rights. The United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/72/279 designates the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework as the principal planning and implementation instrument for the UN Development System at country level. Programme priorities of the UN entities working at the country are derived from the GoI-UNSDCF....

UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report 2023 warns that the global economy is stalling, with growth slowing in most regions compared with last year and only a few countries bucking the trend. It says the global economy is at a crossroads, where divergent growth paths, widening inequalities, growing market concentration and mounting debt burdens cast shadows on the future. The prospect of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 is fading as a combination of rising interest rates, weakening currencies and slowing export growth squeezes the fiscal space needed for governments to fight climate change and provide for their people. The report calls for a change in policy direction – including by leading central banks – and accompanying institutional reforms promised during the COVID-19 crisis to avert a lost decade. It urges global financial reforms, more pragmatic policies to tackle inflation, inequality and sovereign debt distress, and stronger oversight of key markets. The report proposes actions to get the global economy moving in the right direction by using a balanced policy mix of fiscal, monetary and supply-side measures to achieve financial stability, boost productive investment and create better jobs. To safeguard the world economy from future systemic crises, we must avoid the policy mistakes of the past and embrace a positive reform agenda....

UNCTAD’s Review of Maritime Transport 2023 calls for a “just and equitable transition” to a decarbonized shipping industry. The sector, whose greenhouse gas emissions have risen 20% over the last decade, operates an ageing fleet that runs almost exclusively on fossil fuels. As global leaders prepare for the next UN climate conference (COP28), UNCTAD advocates for system-wide collaboration, swift regulatory intervention and stronger investments in green technologies and fleets. Full decarbonization by 2050 will require massive investments and could lead to higher maritime logistics costs, raising concerns for vulnerable shipping-reliant nations like small island developing states. The report emphasizes the need to balance environmental goals with economic needs but underscores that the cost of inaction far outweighs the required investments. Beyond cleaner fuels, the industry needs to move faster towards digital solutions like AI and blockchain to improve efficiency as well as sustainability. In its analysis of global maritime trends, the report highlights shipping’s resilience despite major challenges stemming from global crises, such as the war in Ukraine. Maritime trade is expected to grow 2.4% in 2023 and more than 2% between 2024 and 2028. Balancing environmental sustainability, regulatory compliance and economic demands is vital for a prosperous, equitable and resilient future for maritime transport....

Based on the latest National Family Heath Survey [NFHS-5 (2019-21)], this second edition of the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) represents India’s progress in reducing multidimensional poverty between the two surveys, NFHS-4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-21). It builds on the Baseline Report of India’s National MPI launched in November 2021. According to the Report, 135 million people escaped multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21. The country registered a significant decline of 9.89 percentage points in India’s multidimensionally poor from 24.85% in 2015-16 to 14.96% in 2019-2021. The rural areas witnessed the fastest decline in poverty, from 32.59% to 19.28%. Providing multidimensional poverty estimates for the 36 States and Union Territories and 707 Administrative Districts, the Report states that the fastest reduction in the proportion of multidimensional poor was observed in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Rajasthan....

As recognised in the Incheon Declaration, the achievement of SDG 4 is dependent on opportunities and challenges posed by technology, a relationship that was strengthened by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology appears in six out of the ten targets in the fourth Sustainable Development goal on education. These references recognize that technology affects education through five distinct channels, as input, means of delivery, skill, tool for planning, and providing a social and cultural context. There are often bitter divisions in how the role of technology is viewed, however. These divisions are widening as the technology is evolving at breakneck speed. The 2023 GEM Report on technology and education explores these debates, examining education challenges to which appropriate use of technology can offer solutions (access, equity and inclusion; quality; technology advancement; system management), while recognizing that many solutions proposed may also be detrimental. The report also explores three system-wide conditions (access to technology, governance regulation, and teacher preparation) that need to be met for any technology in education to reach its full potential. The 2023 GEM Report and 200 PEER country profiles on technology and education were launched on 26 July. A recording of the global launch event can be watched here and a south-south dialogue between Ministers of education in Latin America and Africa here....

A new report released today by UNAIDS shows that there is a clear path that ends AIDS. This path will also help prepare for and tackle future pandemics and advance progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The report, ‘The Path that Ends AIDS’, contains data and case studies which highlight that ending AIDS is a political and financial choice, and that the countries and leaders who are already following the path are achieving extraordinary results. Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zimbabwe have already achieved the “95-95-95” targets. That means 95% of the people who are living with HIV knowing their HIV status, 95% of the people who know that they are living with HIV being on lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of people who are on treatment being virally suppressed. A further 16 other countries, eight of them in sub-Saharan Africa, the region which accounts for 65% of all people living with HIV, are also close to doing so. “The end of AIDS is an opportunity for a uniquely powerful legacy for today’s leaders,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “They could be remembered by future generations as those who put a stop to the world’s deadliest pandemic. They could save millions of lives and protect the health of everyone. They could show what leadership can do.” The report highlights that HIV responses succeed when they are anchored in strong political leadership. This means following the data, science, and evidence; tackling the inequalities holding back progress; enabling communities and civil society organizations in their vital role in the response; and ensuring sufficient and sustainable funding. Progress has been strongest in the countries and regions that have the most financial investments, such as in eastern and southern Africa where new HIV infections have been reduced by 57% since 2010. Thanks to support for and investment in ending AIDS among children, 82% of pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV globally were accessing antiretroviral treatment in 2022, up from 46% in 2010. This has led to a 58% reduction in new HIV infections among children from 2010 to 2022, the lowest number since the 1980’s. Progress in the HIV response has been strengthened by ensuring that legal and policy frameworks do not undermine human rights, but enable and protect them. Several countries removed harmful laws in 2022 and 2023, including five (Antigua and Barbuda, the Cook Islands, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Singapore) that have decriminalized same-sex sexual relations. The number of people on antiretroviral treatment worldwide rose almost fourfold, from 7.7 million in 2010 to 29.8 million in 2022. However, the report also sets out that ending AIDS will not come automatically. AIDS claimed a life every minute in 2022. Around 9.2 million people still miss out on treatment, including 660 000 children living with HIV. Women and girls are still disproportionately affected, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, 4,000 young women and girls became infected with HIV every week in 2022. Only 42% of districts with HIV incidence over 0.3% in sub-Saharan Africa are currently covered with dedicated HIV prevention programmes for adolescent girls and young women. Almost one quarter (23%) of new HIV infections were in Asia and the Pacific where new infections are rising alarmingly in some countries. Steep increases in new infections are continuing in eastern Europe and central Asia (a rise of 49% since 2010) and in the Middle East and North Africa (a rise of 61% since 2010). These trends are due primarily to a lack of HIV prevention services for marginalized and key populations and the barriers posed by punitive laws and social discrimination. Funding for HIV also declined in 2022 from both international and domestic sources, falling back to the same level as in 2013. Funding amounted to US$ 20.8 billion in 2022, far short of the US$ 29.3 billion need...

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 Urbanization, agrifood systems transformation and healthy diets across the rural–urban continuum Urbanization is changing agrifood systems globally in ways that can only be understood through a rural–urban continuum lens. The changing pattern of population agglomerations across a rural–urban continuum and its interface as a place of exchange and socioeconomic interactions, is reshaping and being reshaped by agrifood systems, with implications for the availability and affordability of healthy diets, and in turn, for food security and nutrition. The 2023 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report presents updates on the food security and nutrition situation around the world including the latest estimates of the cost and affordability of a healthy diet The report also looks at ways in which governments can repurpose their current support to agriculture to reduce the cost of healthy diets, mindful of the limited public resources available in many parts of the world....

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition is the only UN official report that monitors global progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Using the latest available data and estimates, the report provides a comprehensive midpoint assessment of the 2030 Agenda, highlighting not only impacts of multiple crises affecting people's lives and livelihoods, but also areas of progress where acceleration is needed. This annual SDG Report is prepared by UN DESA, in collaboration with the entire UN Statistical System, consisting of more than 50 international and regional agencies, based on data from over 200 countries and territories. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition provides a powerful call to action, presenting a candid assessment of the SDGs based on the latest data and estimates. While highlighting the existing gaps and urging the world to redouble its efforts, the report also emphasizes the immense potential for success through strong political will and the utilization of available technologies, resources, and knowledge. Together, the global community can reignite progress towards achieving the SDGs and create a brighter future for all. According to the report, the impacts of the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, a weak global economy, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed weaknesses and hindered progress towards the Goals. The report further warns that while lack of progress is universal, it is the world’s poorest and most vulnerable who are experiencing the worst effects of these unprecedented global challenges. It also points out areas that need urgent action to rescue the SDGs and deliver meaningful progress for people and the planet by 2030....

The report highlights that FDI inflows to developing Asia remained stagnant at $662 billion, with the majority of investments highly concentrated in few economies: India, China, Singapore, Hong Kong. The UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2023 reveals that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to developing Asia remained unchanged at $662 billion in 2022 compared to the previous year. However, the report highlights significant variations among countries in the region. FDI inflows to developing Asia were highly concentrated, with five economies accounting for nearly 80% of the total investment. These economies are India, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates. The UNCTAD report highlights the significant growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to India and the increasing investments made by Indian companies in other countries, particularly in the renewable energy sector....

The Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) for 2023 highlights that the number of people experiencing acute food insecurity and requiring urgent food and livelihood assistance is on the rise. The report indicates that over a quarter of a billion people are facing acute hunger, with economic shocks and the Ukraine war contributing to the increase. In 2022, around 258 million people across 58 countries and territories faced acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels (IPC/CH Phase 3-5), up from 193 million people in 53 countries and territories in 2021. Published by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN) in support of the Global Network against Food Crises (GNAFC), the GRFC 2023 is the reference document for global, regional and country-level acute food insecurity in 2022 in GRFC-identified countries. The report is the result of a collaborative effort among 16 partners to achieve a consensus-based assessment of acute food insecurity in countries with food crises, and aims to inform humanitarian and development action by independent and consensus-based evidence and analysis....

Better Migration Policies Can Help Boost Prosperity in All Countries Competition for workers rising as populations age in rich and middle-income countries Populations across the globe are aging at an unprecedented pace, making many countries increasingly reliant on migration to realize their long-term growth potential, according to a new report from the World Bank. The World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies, identifies this trend as a unique opportunity to make migration work better for economies and people. Wealthy countries as well as a growing number of middle-income countries—traditionally among the main sources of migrants—face diminishing populations, intensifying the global competition for workers and talent. Meanwhile, most low-income countries are expected to see rapid population growth, putting them under pressure to create more jobs for young people. “Migration can be a powerful force for prosperity and development,” said World Bank Senior Managing Director Axel van Trotsenburg. “When it is managed properly, it provides benefits for all people — in origin and destination societies.” In the coming decades, the share of working-age adults will drop sharply in many countries. Spain, with a population of 47 million, is projected to shrink by more than one third by 2100, with those above age 65 increasing from 20% to 39% of the population. Countries like Mexico, Thailand, Tunisia and Türkiye may soon need more foreign workers because their population is no longer growing. Beyond this demographic shift, the forces driving migration are also changing, making cross-border movements more diverse and complex. Today, destination and origin countries span all income levels, with many countries such as Mexico, Nigeria, and the U.K. both sending and receiving migrants. The number of refugees nearly tripled over the last decade. Climate change threatens to fuel more migration. So far, most climate-driven movements were within countries, but about 40% of the world’s population— 3.5 billion people—lives in places highly exposed to climate impacts. Current approaches not only fail to maximize the potential development gains of migration, they also cause great suffering for people moving in distress. About 2.5% of the world’s population—184 million people, including 37 million refugees—now live outside their country of nationality. The largest share— 43%—lives in developing countries. The report underscores the urgency of managing migration better. The goal of policymakers should be to strengthen the match of migrants’ skills with the demand in destination societies, while protecting refugees and reducing the need for distressed movements. The report provides a framework for policymakers on how to do this. “This World Development Report proposes a simple but powerful framework to aid the making of migration and refugee policy,” said Indermit Gill, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. “It tells us when such policies can be made unilaterally by destination countries, when they are better made plurilaterally by destination, transit and origin countries, and when they must be considered a multilateral responsibility.” Origin countries should make labor migration an explicit part of their development strategy. They should lower remittance costs, facilitate knowledge transfers from their diaspora, build skills that are in high demand globally so that citizens can get better jobs if they migrate, mitigate the adverse effects of “brain drain,” protect their nationals while abroad, and support them upon return. Destination countries should encourage migration where the skills migrants bring are in high demand, facilitate their inclusion, and address social impacts that raise concerns among their citizens. They should let refugees move, get jobs, and access national services wherever they are available....

the world’s population reached a landmark 8 billion people. It’s a staggering number – but what does it mean? What are the implications for the lives, rights, health and future offspring of all these people? Instead of celebrating a milestone in global development, media reports have been overwhelmingly fearful: The world is bursting at the seams, migration is out of control, there’s no one to look after all the old people, women need to reproduce more, or less. As alarmist rhetoric circulates and governments increasingly seek to influence fertility rates, in our latest State of World Population report we ask: What’s fact, what’s fiction, and what’s the future beyond the figures? n November 2022, the world’s population surpassed 8 billion people. Our human family is now larger than ever before. This year’s State of the World Population report makes the case for a world in which each individual is free to choose their reproductive future – a world in which countries build demographic resilience by adapting to population change, rather than attempting to control it. This moment requires us to recognize the potential of all people, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, nationality or ability, so that each person is enabled to contribute positively to our collective future – a future for all 8 billion of us, a future of infinite possibilities....

Sustainable development prospects continue to diverge between developed and developing countries. The 2023 Financing for Sustainable Development Report finds that SDG financing needs are growing, but development financing is not keeping pace. The war in Ukraine, sharp increases in food and energy prices, and rapidly tightening financial conditions have increased hunger and poverty and reversed progress on the SDGs. If left unaddressed, a “great finance divide” will translate into a lasting sustainable development divide. Stakeholders must maintain a long-term focus on resilient and inclusive development, while addressing near-term crises. Delaying investment in sustainable transformations is not an option – not only because it would put the 2030 Agenda and climate targets out of reach, but also because it would exacerbate financing challenges down the line. This report calls on the international community to take advantage of this moment to align financing with sustainable development through three sets of actions. First, scale up development cooperation and SDG investment: These can support the UN Secretary-General’s call for an SDG Stimulus. Second, strengthen the international financial architecture by bringing different reform processes together, strengthening effectiveness, ensuring full alignment with the SDGs and climate action. Third, accelerate national sustainable industrial transformations: Countries need to chart their own national paths to achieve the SDGs with a new generation of sustainable industrial policies, supported by integrated national financing frameworks. The world is at a crossroads. The international community must deliver on the outstanding promise of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, deliver sustainable transformations, and achieve the SDGs....

The Survey for 2023 examines how new perspectives on fiscal and public debt analyses and policies can help countries in Asia and the Pacific to effectively pursue not only the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 but also improve their long-term sustainable development prospects. While the average government debt level in the Asia-Pacific region is at an 18-year high, this is not necessarily bad news, and it is time for a bold shift in thinking about public debt sustainability, according to the 2023 edition of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific. Published today by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Survey argues that current policy debates around public debt sustainability do not sufficiently account for the long-term positive socioeconomic and environmental impact of public investments. This type of spending lays sound foundations for inclusive, resilient and sustainable prosperity. “A higher debt level does not necessarily mean a higher risk of debt distress,” said Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP. “Nor is higher debt necessarily detrimental to economic growth. Rather, deploying public debt as an investment in people and the planet offers sizeable medium- and long-term economic, social and environmental returns.” The current high levels of government debt are largely a result of the unprecedented expenditure to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic contraction. Public debt distress is expected to worsen amid the global economic slowdown, record high inflation and rising interest rates, and uncertainty induced by the war in Ukraine. This implies that the scale of fiscal responses available for investing in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for climate action is likely to remain limited. To effectively pursue sustainable development under current difficult economic conditions, a reconsideration of the public debt-development nexus is needed. The Survey proposes an innovative approach to public debt sustainability analysis that augments the conventional short- to medium-term methodologies of international financial institutions and credit rating agencies. This approach considers a country’s SDG financing needs and strategies along with the Governments’ structural development policies. Using different policy scenarios, the analyses show that public debt goes down over the long term when the socioeconomic and environmental benefits of public investments are incorporated. On the back of these findings, the Survey argues that it is time for international financial institutions and credit rating agencies to consider the positive long-term economic, social and environmental outcomes of investing in the SDGs in their assessments of public debt sustainability, also considering whether such spending would boost economic productivity. Debt relief should be viewed as helping to support the fiscal outlook, rather than as a sign of an upcoming debt default. Effective public debt management reduces fiscal risks and borrowing costs, and there are several examples of good public debt management practices in the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, countries with high debt distress levels may need pre-emptive, swift and adequate sovereign debt restructuring, while efforts towards common international debt resolution mechanisms and restructuring frameworks also need to be accelerated. Produced annually since 1947, the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific is the oldest United Nations report on the region’s development progress. The Survey provides analyses to guide policy discussion on current and emerging socioeconomic issues and policy challenges to support inclusive and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region....

Welcome to the fourth edition of SDG Pulse – UNCTAD’s annual statistical publication reporting on developments relating to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2015) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The purpose of this report is to: provide an update on the evolution of a selection of official SDG indicators and complementary data and statistics; provide an update on progress in the development of new concepts and methodologies for SDG indicators for which UNCTAD is a global custodian agency; and to showcase how UNCTAD is supporting member States in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The report also investigates thematic issues of relevance to the 2030 Agenda – this year, the report discusses, as In-Focus topic, the issue of inclusive growth with particular emphasis on gender equality and environmental sustainability, assessing progress and challenges in these areas. Over the last decades, rising inequality as well as climate change have indeed questioned the ability of economic growth to continue to play its historical role as the driver of development. To support the SDGs, growth needs to be inclusive and sustainable. This includes all the indicators for which UNCTAD is a custodian or co-custodian. These indicators fall under goals 10, 12, 16 and 17, covering topics related to trade, tariffs, development finance, debt, investment, illicit finance, and enterprise sustainability. Custodian agencies of SDG indicators, including UNCTAD, are responsible for developing international standards and recommending methodologies for monitoring SDG indicators. They are also tasked with compiling and verifying country data and metadata, and for submitting the data, along with regional and global aggregates, to the global SDG report and database updated by the United Nations Statistics Division. SDG Pulse covers the following UNCTAD’s custodian indicators, but also many other SDG indicators to describe sustainable development comprehensively....

Digital transformation is under way in the Pacific and presents both opportunities and challenges for the region. Improvements in digital connectivity across the region are converging with growing opportunities for e-commerce, digital payments and digital trade. For some businesses, electronic commerce is opening access to new domestic, regional and international markets. This is especially important for the Blue Pacific Continent to overcome the ‘tyranny of distance’ inherent in being isolated from global trade networks. The COVID-19 pandemic magnified the potential of digital technologies to provide solutions to socioeconomic challenges with new ways of working and communicating emerging across the region. In some countries, the pandemic was a catalyst that sped up long- planned digital initiatives. New mobile money and electronic payment systems accelerated financial inclusion across the region and businesses began turning to online platforms to market and sell their products. At the same time, we are reminded of the economic and social divides that may be exacerbated by increased digitalization, entrenching both leaders and followers and generating uneven social and economic progress. The digital economy should reduce, not widen, existing income and wealth disparities. The current wave of technological change is unprecedented in terms of speed, scope and scale, and presents the Pacific with a unique opportunity to deliver inclusive digital development that leaves no one behind. In this context, I am pleased to present the 2022 Pacific Edition of the Digital Economy Report, which aims to strengthen the understanding of digital transformation in the Pacific. While there is no one-size- fits-all solution to address the unique digital challenges faced by the Pacific region, the report provides an overview of the current context and explores how policymakers and local, regional and international organizations can leverage digital technologies for socioeconomic development. The ongoing adoption of digital technologies in the Pacific is driving complex outcomes that require policy planners and regulators to adopt flexible, adaptive and collaborative approaches. To tap into the tremendous potential of digital transformation in the region, new digital governance models will be needed, as well as the development of comprehensive strategies that build resilience, bridge digital divides and promote economic growth. Inclusion should be placed at the centre of this discussion; all people and sectors should benefit from the digital economy, including rural populations, women, youth and persons with disabilities. This Pacific Edition of the Digital Economy Report provides a nuanced analysis of the complexities involved in bridging digital divides, as well as important considerations related to value creation and capture in the digital economy. It concludes with a call to move towards a more holistic, coordinated approach to building inclusive digital economies in the region. It identifies future pathways and recommendations to build on, in alignment with national and regional mechanisms and strategies....

The world continues to confront multiple, inter-connected crises. Amid a slow recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is facing a food and energy crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine with record high inflation unleashing a cost-of-living crisis. Developing countries are in trouble over the costs of imports and debt servicing, and a climate crisis continues to wreak havoc in the most vulnerable countries and populations. Amid monetary tightening, subdued consumption, and private investments, judicious government spending will remain critical for steering economic recovery worldwide. The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 will underscore the imperative of supportive and accommodative fiscal measures to lift growth and accelerate SDG progress. A series of severe and mutually reinforcing shocks — the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and resulting food and energy crises, surging inflation, debt tightening, as well as the climate emergency — battered the world economy in 2022. Against this backdrop, world output growth is projected to decelerate from an estimated 3.0 per cent in 2022 to 1.9 per cent in 2023, marking one of the lowest growth rates in recent decades. The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 presents a gloomy and uncertain economic outlook for the near term. Global growth is forecast to moderately pick up to 2.7 per cent in 2024 as some of the headwinds will begin to subside. However, this is highly dependent on the pace and sequence of further monetary tightening, the course and consequences of the war in Ukraine, and the possibility of further supply-chain disruptions. The tepid global economic prospects also threaten the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), when the 2023 SDG Summit in September marks the mid-point of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. “This is not the time for short-term thinking or knee-jerk fiscal austerity that exacerbates inequality, increases suffering and could put the SDGs farther out of reach. These unprecedented times demand unprecedented action,” said António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General. “This action includes a transformative SDG stimulus package, generated through the collective and concerted efforts of all stakeholders,” he added....

In total, more than 5.0 million children under age 5, including 2.3 million newborns, along with 2.1 million children and youth aged 5 to 24 years – 43 per cent of whom are adolescents – died in 2021. This tragic and massive loss of life, most of which was due to preventable or treatable causes, is a stark reminder of the urgent need to end preventable deaths of children and young people. Sadly, these deaths were mostly preventable with widespread and effective interventions like improved care around the time of birth, vaccination, nutritional supplementation and water and sanitation programmes. Timely, high-quality and disaggregated data – which allow the most vulnerable children to be identified – are critical to achieving the goal of ending preventable deaths of children. Yet as the COVID-19 pandemic has put into stark light, data of this nature are more the exception than the rule: Just 36 countries have high-quality nationally representative data on under-five mortality for 2021, while about half the world’s countries have no data on child mortality in the last five years. These substantial data gaps pose enormous challenges to policy- and decision-making and prolong the need for modelling mortality from what little data are available. To improve the availability, quality and timeliness of data for monitoring the health and survival situation of children and youth, much greater investments must be made to strengthen data systems. The United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) was formed in 2004 to share data on child mortality, improve methods for child mortality estimation, report on progress towards child survival goals and enhance country capacity to produce timely and properly assessed estimates of child mortality. The UN IGME is led by United Nations Children’s Fund and includes the World Health Organization, the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, as full members. The UN IGME’s independent Technical Advisory Group, comprising leading academic scholars and independent experts in demography and biostatistics, provides technical guidance on estimation methods, technical issues and strategies for data analysis and data quality assessment. The UN IGME updates its child mortality estimates annually after reviewing newly available data and assessing data quality. This report contains the latest UN IGME estimates of child mortality at the country, regional and global levels....

The World Social Report (previously Report on the World Social Situation) is prepared by the Division for Inclusive Social Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). Over the years, the Report has served as a background document for discussion and policy analysis of socio-economic matters at the intergovernmental level, and has aimed at contributing to the identification of emerging social trends of international concern and to the analysis of relationships among major development issues which have both international and national dimensions. In its resolution 56/177 of 15 December 2001, the United Nations General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to change the periodicity of the Reports on the World Social Situation from a four-year cycle to a two-year cycle. Population ageing is a defining global trend of our time. People are living longer, and more are older than ever before. Spectacular improvements in health and survival and reductions in fertility have driven this momentous shift, which has begun or is expected to begin soon in all countries and areas. This change brings both challenges and opportunities as countries strive to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2022, the world marked the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing. To commemorate this landmark, the World Social Report 2023 explores the economic and social implications of the ageing of the human population. It builds on the Plan of Action’s framework for national policies to create equitable, inclusive societies for people of all ages, providing recommendations to put the rights and well-being of older persons at the centre, across the life course. Population ageing is an inevitable result of the demographic transition towards longer lives and smaller families. While the shift towards older populations is largely irreversible, collective actions and policy decisions shape its path and consequences. Postponing critical measures that allow societies to benefit from and adapt to population ageing would impose high social, economic, fiscal and health-related costs, for both current and future generations. By contrast, with appropriate foresight and planning, Governments can manage the challenges from population ageing while enhancing opportunities for all people to thrive and ensuring that no one is left behind. As elaborated in this report, population ageing needs to be widely understood as more than just a set of discrete concerns mainly for one group of people who have advanced beyond a given age. Ageing touches all parts of economies and societies, from health care and education to employment and taxation. Each stage of life can contribute to or detract from well-being at older ages....

This authoritative report analyzes IP activity around the globe. Drawing on 2021 filing, registration and in force statistics from national and regional IP offices, it covers patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms, plant variety protection and geographical indications. The report also draws on survey data and industry sources to give a picture of activity in the creative economy....

The UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2022 provides a wide range of statistics and indicators relevant to the analysis of international trade, economy, investment, maritime transport, and development overall. It comes at a time of cascading crises that overlap and compound each other. In uncertain times, reliable statistical information becomes even more indispensable for effective policy responses and decisions, aiding countries to recover from the crises and build a more just, inclusive, and sustainable economy. The UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics and the UNCTAD stat Data Centre make internationally comparable data sets available to policymakers, specialists, researchers, officials of national Governments, representatives of international organizations, journalists, executive managers, and experts of non-governmental organizations. In addition, these statistics underpin all UNCTAD activities. Whether for research, policy advice or technical cooperation, UNCTAD needs reliable and internationally comparable trade, financial and macroeconomic data with global coverage, spanning several decades. The 2021 data show a strong rebound of GDP, international trade, maritime transport, foreign direct investment (FDI) and other spheres of global economic activity. While global merchandise trade exceeded its pre-pandemic level by far, for trade in services the recovery in 2021 was not strong enough to compensate the dramatic fall in 2020 experienced during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in travel. However, UNCTAD nowcasts suggest that the rebound is continuing in 2022, albeit at a slightly moderated speed, leading to new record highs in both goods and services trade values....

This report examines the evolution of real wages around the world, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally, by region and at country level. The current edition includes new evidence on how the COVID-19 crisis and recent inflation have impacted on wages and purchasing power across countries and regions up until the middle of 2022. Using quarterly survey data from a selection of countries representing different geographic regions and income groups, the report shows that, although the erosion of real wages affects all wage earners, the current cost-of-living crisis is having a greater impact among low-income households. These losses come on top of significant wage losses incurred by workers and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic, losses that were greater among low-paid workers, women wage employees and wage workers in the informal economy. The report provides a review of possible countervailing policies that could support economic recovery, help workers and their families, and potentially reduce inequalities in the world of work. “This well thought through, highly informative and very timely report forcefully demonstrates that a failure to adjust nominal wages could – in the absence of adequate policy – lead to a massive increase in inequality and poverty, threatening the livelihoods of countless workers and their families, while endangering economic recovery across the globe.”...

Although least developed countries (LDCs) have barely contributed to climate change, they are on the front lines of the climate crisis. Over the last 50 years, 69 per cent of worldwide deaths caused by climate-related disasters occurred in LDCs. Building resilience via a green structural transformation, and making growth sustainable by generating decent jobs, domestic savings, diversification of the economy and exports, and a shift away from dependence on primary commodities, is moving to the forefront of the national development agenda in LDCs. LDCs represent the litmus test against which history will judge how effectively the efforts of the international community to make the low-carbon transition take into account the “development dimension” and reflect the principles of equity and differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. LDCs have set ambitious emission-reduction targets for themselves, committing to climate-resilient development pathways by 2030 and delivery on net-zero emissions by 2050. They should be rewarded for their commitment by means of international assistance to LDCs. Yet, international support for LDC adaptation and sustainable development has so far fallen remarkably short of what is needed, both in terms of climate finance and access to environmentally-sound technologies. The Least Developed Countries Report 2022 explores LDC-specific development challenges as they pertain to low-carbon development and structural transformation. The report contributes to unpacking the multifaceted linkages between climate change adaptation and sustainable development, highlighting potential mutually beneficial opportunities as well as potential trade-offs for which international support to LDCs is indispensable....

The United Nations E-Government Survey 2022 is the 12th edition of the United Nations’ assessment of the digital government landscape across all 193 Member States. The E-Government Survey is informed by over two decades of longitudinal research, with a ranking of countries based on the United Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies This edition of the Survey includes data analysis in global and regional contexts, a study of local e-government development based on the United Nations Local Online Service Index (LOSI), consideration of inclusion in the hybrid digital society, and a concluding chapter that outlines the trends and developments related to the future of digital government. As wish all editions, it features extensive annexes on its data, methodology and related pilot study initiatives....

UNESCO Education Sector Education is UNESCO’s top priority because it is a basic human right and the foundation on which to build peace and drive sustainable development. UNESCO is the United Nations’ specialized agency for education and provides global and regional leadership in education, strengthens national education systems and responds to contemporary global challenges through education, with a special focus on gender equality and Africa. The Global Education 2030 Agenda As the United Nations’ specialized agency for education, UNESCO is entrusted to lead and coordinate the Education 2030 Agenda – part of a global movement to eradicate poverty through 17 Sustainable Development Goals by2030. Education, essential to achieving all of the se goals, has its own dedicated Goal 4, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The Education 2030 Framework for Action providesa guideline for implementing this ambitious plan....

Continuing the thread of the 2019 and 2020 Human Development Reports (HDRs), the 2021/2022 HDR carries forward a conversation centered on inequalities while integrating other important themes related to uncertainties in the Anthropocene: societal-level transformations, mental health impacts, political polarization, but also, crucially, opportunity. The Report explores how uncertainty in the Anthropocene is changing, what is driving it, what it means for human development, and how we can thrive in spite of it. The Report argues that, in the end, doubling down on human development is central to a more prosperous future for all. We live in a world of worry. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, having driven reversals in human development in almost every country, continues to spin off variants unpredictably. War in Ukraine and elsewhere has created more human suffering. Record-breaking temperatures, fires, storms and floods sound the alarm of planetary systems increasingly out of whack. Together, they are fueling a cost-of-living crisis felt around the world, painting a picture of uncertain times and unsettled lives. Uncertainty is not new, but its dimensions are taking ominous new forms today. A new “uncertainty complex” is emerging, never before seen in human history. Constituting it are three volatile and interacting strands: the destabilizing planetary pressures and inequalities of the Anthropocene, the pursuit of sweeping societal transformations to ease those pressures and the widespread and intensifying polarization. This new uncertainty complex and each new crisis it spawns are impeding human development and unsettling lives the world over. In the wake of the pandemic, and for the first time ever, the global Human Development Index (HDI) value declined—for two years straight. Many countries experienced ongoing declines on the HDI in 2021. Even before the pandemic, feelings of insecurity were on the rise nearly everywhere. Many people feel alienated from their political systems, and in another reversal, democratic backsliding has worsened. There is peril in new uncertainties, in the insecurity, polarization and demagoguery that grip many countries. But there is promise, too—an opportunity to reimagine our futures, to renew and adapt our institutions and to craft new stories about who we are and what we value. This is the hopeful path forward, the path to follow if we wish to thrive in a world in flux. Layers of uncertainty are stacking up and interacting to unsettle our lives in unprecedented ways. People have faced diseases, wars and environmental disruptions before. But the confluence of destabilizing planetary pressures with growing inequalities, sweeping societal transformations to ease those pressures and widespread polarization present new, complex, interacting sources of uncertainty for the world and everyone in it. That is the new normal. Understanding and responding to it are the goals of the 2021/2022 Human Development Report, Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World. It caps a trilogy of Reports beginning with the 2019 Report on inequalities, followed by the 2020 Report on the risks of the Anthropocene—where humans have become a major force driving dangerous planetary change. Thirty-two years ago, the very first Human Development Report declared boldly that “people are the real wealth of nations.” That powerful refrain has guided UNDP and its Human Development Reports ever since, with its messages and meanings taking on richer hues over time....

Progress in prevention and treatment is faltering around the world, putting millions of people in grave danger. Eastern Europe and central Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa have all seen increases in annual HIV infections over several years. In Asia and the Pacific, UNAIDS data now show new HIV infections are rising where they had been falling. Action to tackle the inequalities driving AIDS is urgently required to prevent millions of new HIV infections this decade and to end the AIDS pandemic....

Worldwide, more people are on the move now than ever before, yet many refugees and migrants face poorer health outcomes than the host populations. Addressing their health needs is, therefore, a global health priority and integral to the principle of the right to health for all. The key is to strengthen and maintain health systems by ensuring that they are refugee- and migrant-sensitive and inclusive. Health outcomes are influenced by a whole host of determinants. However, refugees and migrants face additional determinants such as precarious legal status; discrimination; social, cultural, linguistic, administrative and financial barriers; lack of information about health entitlements; low health literacy; and fear of detention and deportation. This groundbreaking publication outlines current and future opportunities and challenges and provides several strategies to improve the health and well-being of refugees and migrants. It is an advocacy tool for national and international policy-makers involved in health and migration. Evidence on the health of refugees and migrants remains fragmented – comparable data across countries and over time are urgently needed to track progress towards the health-related United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. With only 8 years until the 2030 target date to transform our world, the time to act is now....

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 provides a global overview of progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, using the latest available data and estimates. It tracks the global and regional progress towards the 17 Goals with in-depth analyses of selected indicators for each Goal. According to the Report, cascading and interlinked crises are putting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in grave danger, along with humanity’s very own survival. The Report highlights the severity and magnitude of the challenges before us. The confluence of crises, dominated by COVID-19, climate change, and conflicts, are creating spin-off impacts on food and nutrition, health, education, the environment, and peace and security, and affecting all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Report details the reversal of years of progress in eradicating poverty and hunger, improving health and education, providing basic services, and much more. It also points out areas that need urgent action in order to rescue the SDGs and deliver meaningful progress for people and the planet by 2030....

This year’s report should dispel any lingering doubts that the world is moving backwards in its efforts to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. We are now only eight years away from 2030, but the distance to reach many of the SDG 2 targets is growing wider each year. There are indeed efforts to make progress towards SDG 2, yet they are proving insufficient in the face of a more challenging and uncertain context. The intensification of the major drivers behind recent food insecurity and malnutrition trends (i.e. conflict, climate extremes and economic shocks) combined with the high cost of nutritious foods and growing inequalities will continue to challenge food security and nutrition. This will be the case until agrifood systems are transformed, become more resilient and are delivering lower cost nutritious foods and affordable healthy diets for all, sustainably and inclusively. Early in the report, the latest updates of the food security and nutrition situation around the world are presented, including updated estimates on the cost and affordability of a healthy diet. The report acknowledges the current recessionary context, which makes it even more challenging for many governments to increase their budgets to invest in the agrifood systems transformation that their countries need to achieve SDG 2. Hence, the report then takes a deep dive into how governments are supporting the food and agriculture sector through policies, and based on evidence, it provides recommendations. A stocktaking of the most predominant food and agricultural policy support currently in place around the world is presented to better understand the amount of support, the activities and actors mostly supported (or, on the contrary, penalized), and the pathways through which this support is pushing up the relative cost of nutritious foods and promoting unhealthy diets. Then guidance – based on analysis and evidence – is provided on alternative combinations of food and agricultural policy support that can help to reduce the cost of nutritious foods, as well as on how the resulting trade-offs need to be managed to ensure agrifood systems are not only more efficient, but also more sustainable and inclusive. A key recommendation is that governments must start rethinking how they can reallocate their existing public budgets to make them more cost-effective and efficient in reducing the cost of nutritious foods and increasing the availability and affordability of healthy diets, sustainably and leaving no one behind. Lastly, the report takes a close look at the complementing policies, within and outside agrifood systems, that are important to support repurposing efforts and at the political economy factors and dynamics that hamper or facilitate repurposing efforts....

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 created a temporary crisis of confidence in the future of cities. However, a broad consensus is that urbanization remains a powerful twenty-first century mega-trend; and that well-planned towns and cities remain central to the sustainable development trajectory. There is a sense of optimism that the crisis may provide us with the opportunity to build back differently, more inclusively, greener and safer. World Cities Report 2022: Envisaging the Future of Cities seeks to provide greater clarity and insights into the future of cities based on existing trends, challenges and opportunities, as well as disruptive conditions, including the valuable lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, and suggests ways that cities can be better prepared to address a wide range of shocks and transition to sustainable urban futures. The Report proposes a state of informed preparedness that provides us with the opportunity to anticipate change, correct the course of action and become more knowledgeable of the different scenarios or possibilities that the future of cities offers. Building economic, social and environmental resilience, including appropriate governance and institutional structures, must be at the heart of the future of cities. Economic resilience with new fiscal sustainability frameworks, societal resilience with universal social protection schemes, climate resilience with greener investments and stronger multilevel collaboration to confront future shocks—these are the main elements of a resilient future that can withstand and respond to the various threats and shocks facing urban areas. The Report identifies three possible scenarios of urban futures: high damage, pessimistic and optimistic. Avoiding the high damage scenario and manifesting an optimistic urban future requires collaborative, well-coordinated and effective multilateral interventions. The response to the current urban crisis can lead to a collective reprioritization of cities across the world towards shared prosperity and inclusion. The Report shows that the path to sustainable urban futures will be determined by inclusive and transformative policies to eradicate poverty and inequality; produce urban economies that provide opportunities for all; generate greener investment for sustainable consumption and production patterns; pursue responsive urban and territorial planning; implement collaborative and integrated governance; prioritize public health; deploy inclusive innovation and technology; and build resilience across multiple dimensions. During the Decade of Action (2020–2030), cities and subnational governments must urgently adopt approaches that will foster the optimistic scenario of urban futures. The localization and effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda serves as a framework for integrating the interrelated components that constitute these pathways....

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) produces internationally comparable estimates of progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and is responsible for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to WASH. This data update presents national, regional and global estimates for WASH in schools up to the year 2021, and includes additional analysis on efforts to prepare schools for future pandemics and provide disability-inclusive WASH services in schools....

As the world’s only crowd-sourced report on renewable energy, the Renewables 2022 Global Status Report (GSR) is in a class of its own. The Renewables 2022 Global Status Report documents the progress made in the renewable energy sector. It highlights the opportunities afforded by a renewable-based economy and society, including the ability to achieve more diversified and inclusive energy governance through localised energy generation and value chains. Countries with higher shares of renewables in their total energy consumption enjoy a greater level of energy independence and security. In response to an unprecedented public health crisis, countries around the world had hoped to seize the post-COVID-19 opportunity for a green and equitable recovery. Unfortunately, and despite record growth in renewable energy deployment in 2021, this historic chance has been lost. As of mid-2022, the world was experiencing its biggest energy crisis on record. Although this crisis was exacerbated by the Russian Federation’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, prices for fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas – were already spiking by late 2021, leading to the threat of energy poverty for billions of people. Despite evidence that renewables are the most affordable energy source to both improve resilience and support decarbonisation, governments across the world continue to resort to fossil fuel subsidies to keep energy bills under control. This growing gap between countries’ ambition and action on the ground is alarming and sends a clear warning that the global energy transition is not happening. The REN21 Community has more than 2,000 people who come from different countries with varied backgrounds, interest and professional experience. The Community is driven by a common goal: to create a renewable energy future. Collectively this is an engaged community of international experts, who participate actively in different REN21 activities, e.g. contributing data and information, participating in interviews, peer reviewing reports, using the data supporting outreach, and actively exchanging at workshops, conferences and events to advance the energy transition. The REN21 Community co-develops reports, resulting in real ownership and identification with REN21 and its activities. We believe in the “power of many”; by working together and multiplying messages we can achieve a renewable energy future. Whatever your area of expertise and interest, you can be a part of this community and contribute to the sharing and exchanging of information on the renewable energy sector. The REN21 Community co-develops reports, resulting in real ownership and identification with REN21 and its activities. We believe in the “power of many”; by working together and multiplying messages we can achieve a renewable energy future....

Global flows of foreign direct investment recovered to pre-pandemic levels last year,reaching $1.6 trillion. Cross-border deals and international project finance were particularly strong, encouraged by loose financing conditions and infrastructure stimulus. However, the recovery of greenfield investment in industry remains fragile,especially in developing countries. This fragile growth of real productive investment is likely to persist in 2022.The fallout of the war in Ukraine with the triple food, fuel and finance crises, along with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and climate disruption, are adding stresses, particularly in developing countries. Global growth estimates for the year are already down by a full percentage point. There is significant risk that the momentum for recovery in international investment will stall prematurely, hampering efforts to boost finance for sustainable development. The World Investment Report supports policymakers by monitoring global and regional investment trends and national and international investment policy developments. The report reviews investment in the Sustainable Development Goals and in climate change mitigation and adaptation. It also looks at sustainable finance trends in capital markets and among institutional investors. The coming years will see the implementation of fundamental reforms in international taxation. These reforms are expected to have major implications for investment policy, especially in countries that make use of fiscal incentives and special economic zones. The report of this year provides a guide for policymakers to navigate the complex new tax rules and to adjust their investment strategies. I commend this report to all engaged in promoting investment in sustainable development....