Eradicating poverty, the greatest global challenge

During the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development in 1995, leaders from across the globe recognized poverty eradication as an ethical, political and economic imperative and identified it as one of the three pillars of social development. Since then, the world has come together to eliminate poverty. As a major step towards this objective, the Millennium Declaration set the target of halving the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day between 1990 and 2015. Read more

Measuring global trade – getting the right numbers?

In today’s global economy, no nation is self-sufficient. They rely on one another to complete a wide range of international transactions including selling, buying or exchanging of goods and services. Global trading has become a key pillar of today’s economy and its fluctuations can impact national and international policies and processes. As a result, having the right numbers on global trade has become a decisive need for the world’s economic growth and development. Read more

Zambian envoy elected to ECOSOC for 2011

H.E. Lazarous Kapambwe, Permanent Representative of Zambia to the UN was elected on 18 January to serve as the next President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

“I represent the region that is lagging behind the most in terms of development in all socio-economic sectors and I pledge to do my best to ensure that Africa’s challenges as well as all other regions are tackled in the best way possible by the Council,” Mr. Kapambwe told ECOSOC. Read more

Statistical compilations

Monthly Bulletin of Statistics and MBS Online

The Monthly Bulletin of Statistics presents current economic and social statistics for more than 200 countries and territories of the world. It contains over 50 tables of monthly and/or annual and quarterly data on a variety of subjects illustrating important economic trends and developments, including population, prices, employment and earnings, energy, manufacturing, transport, construction, international merchandise trade and finance. Read more

The following staff members were promoted in December:

• Dinah Del Rosario-Ugay, Administrative Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
• Laura Dix, Staff Assistant, Development Policy and Analysis Division
• Ana Marie Francia, Administrative Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development
• Renata Kaczmarska, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development