UN Data: Your AI-ready gateway to curated and trusted UN System data
- UN Data serves as a unified platform that brings together statistical data from across the UN system, with the goal of becoming the primary integrated source of trusted UN statistics and data.
Global economy shows resilience, but trade tensions and fiscal strains cloud outlook, UN warns
- Global economic output is forecast to grow by 2.7 per cent in 2026, slightly below the 2.8 per cent estimated for 2025 and well below the pre-pandemic average of 3.2 per cent, according to the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2026, released by the United Nations today.
UN chief urges world leaders to ‘get priorities straight’ as New Year message calls for peace over war
- As the world enters 2026 amid mounting crises, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has issued a stark but hopeful New Year appeal, urging global leaders to shift resources away from destruction and towards development, peace and people.
5 things you need to know about the global economy in 2026
6 January 2026 - The global economy showed notable resilience in 2025, performing better than anticipated despite repeated shocks and heightened uncertainty. Trade flows continued to expand, and overall activity held up more strongly than many expected. The key question now is whether this resilience will persist into 2026. The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2026 report — to be released on 8 January 2026 — offers some early answers.
World Basketball Day 2025: From soccer ball to global phenomenon
19 December 2025 - Basketball was invented in 1891… using a soccer ball. The first games were very slow. Each time someone scored, someone had to climb a ladder to retrieve the ball because the baskets had no holes. Now, almost half of the world’s population is interested in basketball - a whopping 3.3 billion people.
Marking 20 years of shaping the online world, WSIS+20 agrees on priorities to advance digital cooperation
16 December 2025 - The United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on the Twenty-Year Review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) opened today, marking two decades of shaping the digital world as the longest-standing global digital governance process.
UN launches Transport Decade with global commitments for sustainable, inclusive and resilient mobility
10 December 2025 - The launch of the first ever United Nations Decade of Sustainable Transport (2026–2035) and its widely anticipated Implementation Plan brought together transport leaders from governments, the United Nations system, local authorities, the private sector, civil society and youth organizations from around the world today at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
7 things you need to know about sustainable transportation
9 December 2025 - Sustainable transport is about cleaner mobility and safer systems; extending markets; shaping access to jobs, schools and health care; and enabling the movement of food and medicines. With transport demand set to more than double by 2050, choices we make this decade, can unlock sustainable development pathways.
Genuine inclusion of persons with disabilities is a win for us all: Guterres
3 December 2025 - Discussions around promoting greater inclusion of people with disabilities in society topped the agenda at the United Nations on Wednesday.
Disability advocates drive change through the Doha Declaration
1 December 2025 – The Second World Summit for Social Development which concluded last month in Doha, was designed with inclusion at its core. Ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December, the team in UN DESA’s Division for Inclusive Social Development, shared how the Social Summit helped advance the rights of persons with disabilities.
Latest urbanization data reveal world’s most populous cities
1 December 2025 – Our world is becoming increasingly urban. Cities are now home to 45 per cent of the global population of 8.2 billion, according to UN DESA’s World Urbanization Prospects 2025: Summary of Results, released on 18 November 2025.
Cities are home to 45 per cent of the global population, with megacities continuing to grow, UN report finds
18 November 2025 - The world is becoming increasingly urban, with cities now home to 45 per cent...
6 lessons from 80 years of UN progress toward sustainable development
12 November 2025 - As the United Nations marks its 80th anniversary, one story stands out: the world’s journey—through challenges and breakthroughs—toward sustainable development for all. Advancing Together, a new UN DESA report, traces how the UN has helped transform global cooperation, uniting countries around shared goals for people and planet.
SDG Pavilion at COP30: A hub for action and hope in Belém
11 November 2025 - As the world gathers in Belém, Brazil, for the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) from 10 to 21 November, the SDG Pavilion organized by UN DESA, will serve as a beacon for collaboration and innovation to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement in synergy.
Doha summit ends with call to turn social pledges into action
6 November 2025 - The Second World Summit for Social Development concluded in Doha on Thursday with calls for countries to move swiftly from commitments to implementation, ensuring that the Doha Political Declaration delivers measurable progress on poverty reduction, decent work and social inclusion.