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....

UNCTAD’s Review of Maritime Transport has assessed and accompanied developments in shipping and seaports since 1968. The experience and extensive data sets generated during the last decades help UNCTAD provide a comprehensive and thorough assessment of the causes and impacts of the trends covered in the Review. And the message emanating from our analysis is clear: The world again needs the shipping industry to navigate through the rough seas of crises. The war in Ukraine has disrupted major shipping routes and supply chains. It has also triggered record prices that could push tens of millions more people across the world into hunger and poverty this year, as has been stated by the UN Global Crisis Response Group. Maritime transport has a key role to play in cushioning the blow. Prices need to come down to affordable levels, especially for developing countries, and for the world to have enough fertilizers to feed itself. Under the leadership of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the United Nations has sought to address these two pressing concerns through the parallel implementation of two initiatives: the Black Sea Grain Initiative, through which over ten million metric tons of grain have been shipped from Ukrainian ports, and the Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting the unimpeded exports of Russian Food and Fertilizers to the World Markets. Alongside Türkiye, a key player in this effort, we signed the two agreements in Istanbul on July the 22nd. UNCTAD, and in particular our teams working on maritime logistics, provided essential support to these initiatives, which highlight the real development impact of UNCTAD’s policy research in this field. As the ongoing supply chain crisis is easing, with decreasing freight rates and improving port performance, we must not lose sight of the actions needed to prepare for the long-term development of the sector. We need a transparent multilateral framework for the decarbonization of maritime transport, to reduce uncertainty for policy makers and industry alike. Confronted with uncertainty, ship owners have delayed some new building orders, and the average age of the world container ship fleet has increased from 10.3 to 13.7 years. We also need to ensure that the concerns of the developing countries, notably the most vulnerable economies including Least Developed Countries and Small Island States, are addressed. We must avoid that the same countries that are most negatively affected by climate change – and who have contributed the least to its causes – would also be those who would be most negatively affected by climate change mitigation. Thus, looking beyond the horizon, the Review points to major challenges, but also opportunities for developing countries. Extensive data sets and analysis show how decarbonization, digitalization, and market consolidation require novel and collaborative policy responses. The Review of Maritime Transport 2022 provides the necessary assessment, and it is my hope that it will help to identify the solutions for a future world that counts on sustainable and resilient maritime supply chains....

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.”...

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....

The 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report : Building Equal and Inclusive Societies presents new evidence on the relationship between volunteers and the state. It shows how volunteer–state partnerships can redefine power relations to create societies that benefit all. When governments collaborate with volunteers from marginalized groups, these relationships foster new ways of working that engage volunteers as key partners in the creation of development solutions. We need to draw on the creativity and energy of volunteers. In doing so, we can lay the foundation for a 21st Century social contract that is more inclusive and responsive to the needs of communities. This report offers timely insights into the important contribution of volunteers today, and the crucial role they could play in the future as we seek to build forward better towards more equal and inclusive societies....

During the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed many new challenges to OSH. All the actors in the world of work have been exposed to the risk of infection with the novel coronavirus, as well as to new and emerging risks correlated with the emergency and the newly adopted work practices and procedures. Social dialogue has played a vital role in addressing the complex situation of the COVID-19 pandemic at all levels, from the national to the workplace level. Throughout the crisis, those governments who prioritized the active participation of employers’ and workers’ organizations in OSH governance have been able to collectively develop and implement emergency laws, policies and interventions. 6 Such regulations had then to be adequately implemented at the workplace level. Workers’ participation and engagement, through joint OSH committees and workers OSH representatives, have been key in promoting compliance, as well as in designing and applying suitable and effective measures to eliminate hazards or minimize risks that are adapted to the workplace and workers’ needs. In 2022, scenario planning would seem to indicate that the world will henceforth be coping with different realities, with some countries continuing to face the COVID-19 crisis while others will be starting to live in a post-COVID era. In both of these scenarios, the mechanisms for participating in the governance of this common problem, as well as other OSH issues, will continue to be essential for containing occupational injuries and diseases – both at the national and workplace level....

This first ILO flagship Social Dialogue Report focuses on collective bargaining. As a long-standing process of social dialogue, collective bargaining has played an important role in many countries in securing decent work, guaranteeing equality of opportunity and treatment, reducing wage inequality and stabilizing labour relations. It offers a unique mechanism for regulating the conditions of work and terms of employment – one enacted by the parties themselves. This report focuses on the contribution that employers’ and workers’ organizations make to the inclusive and effective governance of work through collective bargaining. The report examines the role that collective bargaining played in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on employment and earnings, helping to cushion some of the effects on inequality while reinforcing the resilience of enterprises and labour markets. The tailoring of public health measures and strengthening of occupational safety and health at the workplace, together with the paid sick leave and healthcare benefits provided for in many collective agreements, protected workers and supported the continuity of economic activity. Looking to the future, the report considers the contribution of collective bargaining to a human-centred recovery. It highlights the need to reaffirm the democratic principles and rights that give employers and all workers a voice in the governance of work: freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining. These founding principles of the ILO enable the development of strong and representative workers’ and employers’ organizations, whose actions and agreements can pave the way for a recovery that is inclusive, sustainable and resilient....

Globally, levels of hunger remain alarmingly high. In 2021, they surpassed all previous records as reported by the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), with close to 193 million people acutely food insecure and in need of urgent assistance across 53 countries/territories, according to the findings of the GRFC 2022. This represents an increase of nearly 40 million people compared to the previous high reached in 2020 (reported in the GRFC 2021). This increase must be interpreted with care, given that it can be attributed to both a worsening acute food insecurity situation and a substantial (22 percent) expansion in the population analysed between 2020 and 2021. However, even when considering the share of the analysed population in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent, the proportion of the population in these phases has increased since 2020. When considering the results of the six editions of the GRFC, the number of people has risen by 80 percent since 2016, when around 108 million people across 48 countries were acutely food insecure and in need of urgent assistance (Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent. When comparing the 39 countries/territories that were consistently in food crisis in all six editions of the GRFC, the number of people in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent almost doubled between 2016 and 2021 – up from 94 million to almost 180 million. This increase across the six years of the GRFC – both in terms of absolute numbers and the percentage of the analysed population in these three highest acute food insecurity phases – reflects increased availability of acute food insecurity data, broader geographical coverage, revised population figures, and deteriorating food security contexts in a number of countries. The outlook for global acute food insecurity in 2022 is expected to deteriorate further relative to 2021. In particular, the unfolding war in Ukraine is likely to exacerbate the already severe 2022 acute food insecurity forecasts included in this report, given that the repercussions of the war on global food, energy and fertilizer prices and supplies have not yet been factored into most country-level projection analyses. The GRFC focuses on food crises where the local capacities to respond are insufficient, prompting a request for the urgent mobilization of the international community, as well as in countries/territories where there is ample evidence that the magnitude and severity of the food crisis exceed the local resources and capacities needed to respond effectively. It provides estimates for populations in countries/territories where data are available, based on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) and Cadre Harmonisé (CH) or comparable sources. Populations in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent are in need of urgent food and livelihood assistance....

COVID-19 and climate change are rapidly making it clear that, in today’s crowded and interconnected world, disaster impacts increasingly cascade across geographies and sectors. Despite progress, risk creation is outstripping risk reduction. Despite commitments to build resilience, tackle climate change and create sustainable development pathways, current societal, political and economic choices are doing the reverse. This jeopardizes not only achievement of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, but also hinders progress towards the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out in the Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development....

The 2022 Financing for Sustainable Development Report: Bridging the Finance Divide identifies a “great finance divide” – the inability of poorer countries to raise sufficient resources and borrow affordably for investment. This contributed to developing countries being unable to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and will hold them back from responding to new crises and investing in sustainable development. Developing countries need reliable and affordable financing to invest in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Developing countries still have to regain lost ground from the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has put more countries at risk of debt distress, constrained their fiscal space and hampered economic growth. The war in Ukraine is exacerbating all these challenges. In this context, the 2022 Financing for Sustainable Development Report identifies a “great finance divide” – the inability of poorer countries to raise sufficient resources and borrow affordably for investment. The great finance divide leaves developing countries unable to respond to crises and invest in sustainable development. On average, developed countries use 3.5 per cent of revenue to pay interest on their debt, versus 14 per cent of revenue for the least developed countries. About 60 per cent of LDCs and other low-income countries are now assessed at a high risk of or in debt distress, double the 30 per cent in 2015. The Ukraine conflict is compounding stresses, through higher energy and commodity prices, renewed supply chain disruptions, higher inflation coupled with lower growth, and increased volatility in financial markets. The 2022 FSDR recommends three sets of actions that can help to make progress in bridging the finance divide. First, the report calls for urgent measures to address financing gaps, rising costs of borrowing and heightened debt risks. There is a need to increase public financing for investment in public policy priorities and effectively spend mobilized resources on the SDGs and productive investment. The international community should work to reduce borrowing costs and volatility from commercial sources; and address debt overhangs to reduce debt burdens. Beyond urgent actions, all financing flows must be aligned with sustainable development. We must address climate change and inequalities head on to preserve economic prospects. Finally, enhanced transparency and a more complete information ecosystem will strengthen the ability of countries to manage risks and use resources well and in line with sustainable development....

This 75th-anniversary issue of the Survey argues that Asia-Pacific economies must prioritize inclusive growth – whereby citizens of all socio-economic groups are able to improve their livelihoods, incomes, health, and education levels. Given the constrained fiscal space and other challenges posed by the pandemic, it is difficult but very much possible. Can you imagine our region 30 years ahead from now? We can! Universal healthcare available even in remote rural areas, social protection for all, quality education, and equal opportunities that create fair and sustainable societies across Asia and the Pacific. Watch this video to learn what needs to be done to make this dream come true. Looking ahead from 2022, we say: Building Forward Fairer is possible and it starts today!...

The World Population Policies 2021: Policies related to fertility, provides a brief overview of global fertility levels and trends since the early 1960s and explores government’s views and policies related to fertility. The analysis of views and policies draws on data gathered through 2019 and available in the World Population Policies Database, reflecting the situation before the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The report then presents five case studies of countries from different regions and with a range of fertility levels, exploring in more detail the origin and evolution of national fertility policies. The case studies are followed by an assessment of known or potential direct and indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on fertility patterns and trends. The report concludes with an exploration of policy options that governments may wish to consider in the current context....

Half. That’s the share of all pregnancies that are unintended. What does this say about our values, our priorities – our future? And while all methods can fail or be used incorrectly, the biggest issue by far is people not being able to get the contraception that they need, when they need it. Many women have concerns about side effects, which can be dismissed by health providers. Their contraceptive needs might also change over time, which health systems aren’t always responsive to, while alternative methods may be in short supply or not available at all. Family planning programmes have made huge strides in opening up access to and information on contraceptives – but there’s still far to go. To reach those left behind, these programmes need to tackle stigma, misinformation, health provider training, comprehensive sexuality education and gender inequality head on....

Independent journalism—the kind that favours public interest over political, commercial, or factional agendas—is in peril. The rapid erosion of the business models underpinning media sustainability has deepened a crisis in the freedom and safety of journalists around the world. The global response to these challenges in the coming decade will be decisive for the survival of a democratic public sphere. Over the past five years, approximately 85 percent of the world’s population experienced a decline in press freedom in their country. Even in countries with long traditions of safeguarding free and independent journalism, financial and technological transformations have forced news outlets, especially those serving local communities, to close. With readership and advertising markets moving online, advertising revenue for newspapers plummeted by nearly half in the ten-year period ending in 2019. The subsequent COVID-19 pandemic and its global economic impact have exacerbated this trend, now threatening to create an “extinction level” event for independent journalism outlets. The 2021/2022 global edition of the flagship series of reports on World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development examines these questions with a special focus on “journalism as a public good”. The findings are grounded in data-based analysis, conducted by UNESCO in partnership with Data-Pop Alliance, of trends in media freedom, pluralism, independence, and the safety of journalists, and supplemented by original research by Economist Impact conducted for this Report....

Groundwater: Making the invisible visible Accounting for approximately 99% of all liquid freshwater on Earth, groundwater has the potential to provide societies with tremendous social, economic and environmental benefits and opportunities. Groundwater already provides half of the volume of water withdrawn for domestic use by the global population, including the drinking water for the vast majority of the rural population who do not get their water delivered to them via public or private supply systems, and around 25% of all water withdrawn for irrigation. However, this natural resource is often poorly understood, and consequently undervalued, mismanaged and even abused. Groundwater is central to the fight against poverty, to food and water security, to the creation of decent jobs, to socio-economic development, and to the resilience of societies and economies to climate change. Reliance on groundwater will only increase, mainly due to growing water demand by all sectors combined with increasing variation in rainfall patterns. The report describes the challenges and opportunities associated with the development, management and governance of groundwater across the world. It aims to establish a clear understanding of the role that groundwater plays in daily life, of its interactions with people, and of the opportunities for optimizing its use in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of this largely available yet fragile resource. Unlocking the full potential of groundwater will require strong and concerted efforts to manage and use it sustainably. And it all starts by making the invisible visible....

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the largest global economic crisis in more than a century. In 2020, economic activity contracted in 90 percent of countries, the world economy shrank by about 3 percent, and global poverty increased for the first time in a generation. Governments enacted a swift and encompassing policy response that alleviated the worst immediate economic impacts of the crisis. However, the government response also exacerbated a number of economic fragilities. World Development Report 2022: Finance for an Equitable Recovery examines the central role of finance in the economic recovery from the pandemic. It highlights the consequences of the crisis most likely to affect emerging economies, and advocates a set of policies to mitigate the interconnected financial risks stemming from the pandemic and steer economies toward a sustainable and equitable recovery....

This ILO flagship report details the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the world of work. The report examines the impacts of the crisis on global and regional trends in employment, unemployment and labour force participation, as well as on job quality, informal employment and working poverty. It also offers an extensive analysis of trends in temporary employment both before and during the COVID-19 crisis. This year’s report provides a comprehensive assessment of how the labour market recovery has unfolded across the world in response to different country measures to tackle the pandemic. It analyses global patterns, regional differences and outcomes across economic sectors and groups of workers. The report also presents projections for the expected labour market recovery....

The global economic recovery is facing significant headwinds amid new waves of COVID-19 infections, persistent labour market challenges, lingering supply-chain challenges and rising inflationary pressures. After expanding by 5.5 per cent in 2021, the global output is projected to grow by only 4.0 per cent in 2022 and 3.5 per cent in 2023, according to the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2022, which was launched today. The robust recovery in 2021 – driven by strong consumer spending and some uptake in investment, with trade in goods surpassing pre-pandemic levels — marked the highest growth rate in more than four decades, the Report highlighted. Yet the momentum for growth – especially in China, the United States and the European Union – slowed considerably by the end of 2021, as the effects of monetary and fiscal stimuli began to recede and major supply-chain disruptions emerged. Rising inflationary pressures in many economies are posing additional risks to recovery. With the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 unleashing new waves of infections, the human and economic toll of the pandemic are projected to increase again. “Without a coordinated and sustained global approach to contain COVID-19 that includes universal access to vaccines, the pandemic will continue to pose the greatest risk to an inclusive and sustainable recovery of the world economy,” noted Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs....

Welcome to the third edition of UNCTAD’s SDG Pulse – UNCTAD’s annual statistical publication reporting on developments relating to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The purpose of this report, published on 2 July 2021, is to: provide an update on the evolution of a selection of official SDG indicators and complementary data and statistics; provide progress reports on the development of new concepts and methodologies for UNCTAD custodian indicators; and to also showcase, beyond the perspective of the formal SDG indicators, how UNCTAD is contributing to the implementation of 2030 Agenda. The report will also investigate thematic issues of relevance to 2030 Agenda – this year, the report discusses the remoteness as a challenge for achieving the 2030 Agenda. This annual publication provides an update on the evolution of a selection of official SDG indicators and complementary data and statistics, highlighting progress on the development of new concepts and methodologies for UNCTAD custodian indicators. It further demonstrates, beyond the perspective of the formal SDG indicators, how UNCTAD is contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development....

“This report provides a comprehensive analysis and valuable new evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of industrial capabilities and digitalization in mitigating the negative impact of the pandemic and in strengthening resilience for post-pandemic recovery. It highlights the role of digital transformation, international coordination and global cooperation of industrial policy for building back better for all. The report is an important, timely and visionary guide for governments and policymakers at various levels to develop an effective solution for a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable development in the post-pandemic world.” Xiaolan Fu, University of Oxford “UNIDO brilliantly underpins policy responses and the contributions of the industrial sector in overcoming the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis. An endemic SARS CoV-2 can lead to recurrent aggressive variants, particularly if less developed countries do not receive massive immunization assistance. Long-term economic growth is also threatened by the jump in poverty and underemployment, foreshadowing a deepening of the social, industrial and digital divide between developed and developing societies. More than ever, international cooperation for both a broad, post-pandemic recovery of investments in sustainable energy and infrastructure as well as increased digitalized industrial development is essential to socially equitable and sustainable global growth.”...

Non-state actors’ role extends beyond provision of schooling to interventions at various education levels and influence spheres. Alongside its review of progress towards SDG 4, including emerging evidence on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact, the 2021/2 Global Education Monitoring Report urges governments to see all institutions, students and teachers as part of a single system. Standards, information, incentives and accountability should help governments protect, respect and fulfil the right to education of all, without turning their eyes away from privilege or exploitation. Publicly funded education does not have to be publicly provided but disparity in education processes, student outcomes and teacher working conditions must be addressed. Efficiency and innovation, rather than being commercial secrets, should be diffused and practised by all. To that end, transparency and integrity in the public education policy process need to be maintained to block vested interests. The report’s rallying call – Who chooses? Who loses? – invites policymakers to question relationships with non-state actors in terms of fundamental choices: between equity and freedom of choice; between encouraging initiative and setting standards; between groups of varying means and needs; between immediate commitments under SDG 4 and those to be progressively realized (e.g. post-secondary education); and between education and other social sectors. Supporting the fifth Global Education Monitoring Report are two online tools: PEER, a policy dialogue resource describing non-state activity and regulations in the world’s education systems; and VIEW, a new website consolidating sources and providing new completion rate estimates over time....

The COVID-19 pandemic and the prospect of increasingly frequent and more intense natural and man-made disasters raise important questions about the resilience of the global economy to such shocks. The World Trade Report 2021 explores the basic, binary assumption driving much of the current debate about economic resilience, namely the inherent trade-off between global trade interdependence and national economic security, and suggests that this can be a false dilemma. Due to its interconnected nature, international trade can increase an economy’s exposure to risks and contribute to the transmission of shockwaves. At the same time, it can bolster economic resilience, particularly when backed by domestic policies and effective global cooperation. As a driver of economic growth, trade can generate the resources and knowledge needed to prepare for crises. It can also help countries recover by facilitating the provision of goods and services needed to cope with a crisis. Policies aimed at increasing economic resilience by re-shoring production and unwinding trade integration ultimately reduce economic resilience. Conversely, trade diversification can contribute to economic resilience by allowing countries to be less dependent on a limited number of importers, exporters and sectors. The World Trade Report 2021 shows that a more open, inclusive and predictable trade environment is needed to promote diversification and contribute to economic resilience. The WTO already plays a key role in making economies more resilient by promoting lower trade barriers and greater transparency in trade policies. Further international cooperation at the WTO can strengthen the mutual supportiveness of trade openness and economic resilience so that the world is better prepared to deal with future crises....

The UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2021 provides a wide range of statistics and indicators relevant to the analysis of international trade, investment, maritime transport and development. Reliable statistical information is indispensable for formulating sound policies and recommendations that may commit countries for many years as they strive to integrate into the world economy and improve the living standards of their citizens. The UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics and the UNCTADstat Data Center make internationally comparable sets of data available to policymakers, research specialists, academics, officials from national governments, representatives of international organizations, journalists, executive managers and members 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, covering several decades and for as many countries as possible. This year’s online edition again incorporates interactive charts and maps. The choropleth maps help to make smaller territories more visible. We encourage users to explore these features using the online version of the handbook or e-handbook. The e-handbook is a fully interactive tool, including maps and charts, that allow readers to directly access the data from the UNCTADstat Data Center associated with each table or chart. With the release of 2020 data, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are evident in a myriad of indicators in this 2021 edition. The handbook accordingly provides a wide overview of the consequences of the pandemic across a variety of sectors. As in previous editions, several nowcasts for the current year are included. Given the increased importance of timely data, the handbook has been supplemented by quarterly trade nowcasts....

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of agri-food systems to shocks and stresses and led to increased global food insecurity and malnutrition. Action is needed to make agri-food systems more resilient, efficient, sustainable and inclusive. The State of Food and Agriculture 2021 presents country-level indicators of the resilience of agri-food systems. The indicators measure the robustness of primary production and food availability, as well as physical and economic access to food. They can thus help assess the capacity of national agri-food systems to absorb shocks and stresses, a key aspect of resilience. The report analyses the vulnerabilities of food supply chains and how rural households cope with risks and shocks. It discusses options to minimize trade-offs that building resilience may have with efficiency and inclusivity. The aim is to offer guidance on policies to enhance food supply chain resilience, support livelihoods in the agri-food system and, in the face of disruption, ensure sustainable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to all....

Maritime transport is the backbone of international trade and the global economy. Over 80% of the volume of international trade in goods is carried by sea, and the percentage is even higher for most developing countries. The Review of Maritime Transport is an UNCTAD flagship report, published annually since 1968. It provides an analysis of structural and cyclical changes affecting seaborne trade, ports and shipping, as well as an extensive collection of statistics from maritime trade and transport. This year's edition of the report has a special focus on the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the industry and includes a special chapter on the challenges seafarers face in view of the crewing crisis....