Briefing on the substantive preparations for the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on Population and Development

Overview

The 59th session  of the Commission on Population and Development will be held from 13 to 17 April 2026. The special theme of the session, “Population, technology and research in the context of sustainable development”, is closely related to Chapter XII “Technology, research and development” of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which covered basic data collection, analysis and dissemination, reproductive health research and social and economic research. The upcoming session marks the first time that the Commission has dedicated its annual session to the topic of technology in its follow-up to the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action. The theme is well connected with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially those related to health (Goal 3), education (Goal 4) and gender equality (Goal 5). Selecting this theme also provides the Commission with an opportunity to link its work to the Global Digital Compact, UN2.0, and other workstreams of the UN system that focus on technology and research. 

The aim of the informal briefing is to give Member States an opportunity to share views on the substantive preparations for the 59th session. During the first part of the briefing, the Secretariat will summarize key substantive issues discussed during a series of expert consultations on the theme convened by the Population Division of UN DESA during October 2025 (four sessions from 21 – 30 October 2025) ; there will also be presentations by representatives of UNFPA and the EOSG. During the second part, Member States will be invited to address questions to the panelists and to highlight issues of interest related to the theme of the session.
 

Document

• Concept note

Organization of work