Features

Division of unpaid and paid work: a source of inequality

Both women and men undertake paid and unpaid work. This work is unevenly distributed across all countries with women doing more unpaid care work than men and men doing more paid work. However, research has shown that when paid work and unpaid work, including household and care work, are combined, women spend noticeably longer hours working than men.

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Making every person count

The annual population growth rate in the 1960s was in the order of 2.0 per cent, which led many observers to fear that the world could be at the brink of a population explosion. This rapid growth, especially in less developed countries, imposes increasing demands on existing resources, and constrains the allocation of economic resources for basic human necessities, including human capital investments in education and health care.

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Role of philanthropy in preventing deaths from child birth, tropical diseases

The role of philanthropists and philanthropic organizations is crucial in tackling some avoidable health threats which kill millions of vulnerable people every year, stresses Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the opening of Special Event on Philanthropy and the Global Public Health Agenda on 24 February. “Health is a foundation for prosperity, stability and poverty reduction,” said Mr. Ban.

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Publications and websites

2006 Demographic Yearbook

This Yearbook provides statistics on population size and composition, fertility, mortality, infant and fetal mortality, marriages and divorces. It is the primary source for national population and housing censuses, population-related statistics from national administrative recording systems as well as population and household surveys reported by national statistical authorities.

New website of DESA’s Division for Sustainable Development

The new design emphasizes the division’s mission of promoting sustainable development, both as the substantive Secretariat to the Commission on Sustainable Development, and through technical cooperation and capacity-building at the international, regional and national levels. The new site focuses on the areas of work of the division and the Commission, highlights sustainable development topics, and includes databases and resources. It also features upcoming events and contains a separate area for news and the media.

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Comings and goings

Comings

Ms. Hanifa Mezoui, Chief of the NGO Section, Office of ECOSOC Support and Coordination, DESA, retired as well on 28 February 2009, having served in that position for the past ten years. Among her many achievements over these years, she was instrumental in creation of the United Nations Informal Regional Network (UN-NGO-IRENE), developed as a critical channel for communicating key themes and programs between the UN and the NGO community, including marginalized groups in developing countries.

Mr. Sergei Kambalov, Chief of the ECOSOC and Interorganizational Cooperation Branch, Office of ECOSOC Support and Coordination, DESA, retired on 28 February 2009. Among his many achievements, he was instrumental in the creation of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force and the Global Alliance for ICT and Development.

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