International Migration Policies : Government Views and Priorities
This report describes Government views and policy priorities related to immigration and emigration, and how these have evolved along with changing international migration patterns for 196 countries. It provides information on levels and trends in international migration, policies to influence the level of immigration, policies to promote immigration of highly skilled workers, policies to foster the integration of migrants into the host society, including naturalization policies, and other policies designed by Governments in countries of origin, such as policies on emigration, acceptance of dual citizenship, policies to encourage the return of citizens, and measures to promote involvement of diaspora in countries of origin.
World Mortality Wallchart 2013
The wall chart on World Mortality 2013 presents the latest data available on 15 mortality indicators at the national, regional and world levels.
It also contains illustrative graphs, along with brief explanatory texts of selected regional and global trends in mortality.
Fertility Levels and Trends as Assessed in the 2012 Revision of World Population Prospects
This report is a concise analysis of fertility levels and trends in World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision, the official United Nations publication of population estimates and projections, and includes estimates of the contribution of fertility to future population growth.
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 bimonthly, quarterly and annual 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.
Vol. LXVIII – No. 2, February 2014
In addition to the regular recurrent monthly tables, this issue includes quarterly and bimonthly tables: Retail price indices relating to living expenditures of United Nations officials; Earnings in manufacturing, by sex; Total exports and imports by regions: quantum and unit value indices and terms of trade in US dollars.
Guidelines on Integrated Economic Statistics
The Guidelines build upon international standards manuals by describing principles and detailed practices for further increasing the consistency and coherence of economic data within countries, over time, and across countries. The role of the System of National Accounts as the integrating framework in economic statistics is emphasized and the full set of relevant conceptual, statistical production and institutional issues are addressed.
The various statistical production components of integrated economic statistics are discussed ranging from the use of consistent definitions, classifications, questionnaires, sample frames, data sources and the use of consistent concepts and balancing techniques in national accounts to data dissemination. Issues that play an integral role in the institutional setting for integration, such as strategic planning, legislative framework, governance, human resources, process management, are also highlighted.
The applicable practices vary across countries, therefore, practical advice for the reconciliation of economic statistics is covered for the entire spectrum of statistical agencies, from countries with centralized statistical systems that are able to control the entire production process to those with decentralized systems that must harmonize a wide array of data collected by different agencies.
The publication presents general methodological guidance for integration strategies and serves as a compendium of case studies and current existing practical examples covering a broad range of practical aspects and country experiences of the integration of economic statistics.
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Central Framework
The publication is a statistical framework that provides a comprehensive, consistent, comparable and flexible set of environmental-economic accounts for policy making, analysis and research purposes.
Agenda 21 adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil called for the establishment of a “program to develop national systems of integrated environmental and economic accounting in all countries”. More recently, the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) reconfirmed that “integrated social, economic, and environmental data and information is important to decision-making processes.”
In response to the continued need for environmental and environmental-economic information, in 2005 the United Nations Statistical Commission established the UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA), an intergovernmental body composed of representatives from national statistical offices and international agencies, with the mandate to revise the SEEA.
Demographic Yearbook 2012
Demographic Yearbook 2012 is the the sixty-third in a series published since 1948. Through the cooperation with the National Statistical Offices, official demographic statistics are compiled in the Yearbook, as available, for more than 230 countries and areas of the world up to the reference year 2012. This edition of the Yearbook contains chapters on the population size and distribution, the population of capital cities, fertility, foetal mortality, infant and maternal mortality, general mortality, nuptiality and divorce.
National Accounts Statistics: Analysis of Main Aggregates 2012
The forty-second issue of this publication comprises in the form of analytical tables a summary of the principal national accounting aggregates based on official national accounts data for more than 200 countries and areas, covering 1970-2012. It also contains a section on the estimation methods used for compiling data. It is prepared by UN DESA’s Statistics Division in cooperation with national statistical offices. Tables include analysis of data on gross domestic product (GDP) by different structural components. They are classified into:
- Analysis of the level of total and per capita GDP
- Analysis of the percentage shares of GDP by type of expenditure and gross value added by kind of economic activity
- Analysis of economic development expressed in terms of real growth of GDP and its components by type of expenditure and gross value added by kind of economic activity
- Analysis of price development reflected by implicit price deflators of GDP.
National Accounts Statistics: Main Aggregates and Detailed Tables, 2012
Part I, Part II, Part III, IV & Part V
The publication contains detailed official national accounts data for over 200 countries or areas of the World for the years 2001 to 2012. It is a valuable source of information on the state and structure of economies worldwide. The data for each country or area are presented in separate chapters with uniform table headings and classifications as recommended in the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA). Each country chapter also contains a write-up on the methodology and data sources which are used to compile the national accounts.
A summary of the SNA conceptual framework, classifications, definitions, is also included in the publication. The publication contains statistics on gross domestic product by expenditure at current and constant prices and the relations among product, income, saving and net lending; value added by kind of activity at current and constant prices, and output, gross value added and fixed assets by industry; classification of consumption expenditure of general government, households, and non-profit institutions serving households according to purpose; production account through the financial account for the institutional sectors; and cross classification of gross value added by industry and institutional sector.
2012 International Trade Statistics Yearbook, Vol. II: Trade by Commodity
The publication contains detailed tables showing international trade for 258 individual commodities (3-digit SITC groups) and eleven world trade tables covering trade values and indices up to the year 2012. The information contained is based on data provided by approximately 140 countries (areas), representing more than 90% of world trade of 2012. Volume II has been compiled approximately six months after the submission of Volume I (in November 2013) as the preparation of these tables requires and benefits from the additional country data which, normally, become available later in the year.
Volume I – Trade by Country has been compiled (and made available) early in 2013 (in May 2013) to allow for an advanced release of an overview of international merchandise trade in 2012 and for a much earlier publication of the available 2012 country (area) data. All tables of Volume II are made available electronically shortly after the completion of the manuscript. Volume II contains updated versions of the two world trade tables A and D published in Volume I.
Beginning with the 2008 edition, the International Trade Statistics Yearbook is published in a redesigned format in respect to the presentation of data for individual countries (Volume I) as well as trade in a particular commodity (Volume II).
2010 Industrial Commodity Statistics Yearbook, Vol. I and Vol. II
The publication provides statistics on the production of about 600 major industrial commodities. Data are provided for the ten-year period of 2001-2010 for approximately 200 countries and territories. The commodities have been selected on the basis of their importance in world production and trade.
The Yearbook provides data on the quantities and values of industrial production for the major industrial commodities, therefore it is organized in two volumes: Volume I: Physical Quantity Data and Volume II: Monetary Value Data.
The publication contains three annexes to assist the user: an index of commodities in alphabetical order; a table of correspondence among the CPC-based commodity codes and the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC), Revs. 4 and 3.1, the Harmonized System (HS) 2007 and 2002 and Prodcom 2008 and 2002; and information on all the classifications used in this publication.
Outreach material
Sustainable Development in Action – Issue 3, Volume 2
The latest issue, published by UN DESA’s Division for Sustainable Development, highlights among others, the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals. The newsletter aims to feature the work carried out by Member States, United Nations system, Major Groups and other relevant stakeholders in implementing sustainable development and leading the way to the Future We Want.
DESA NGO News
The March issue is available online. Published by UN DESA’s NGO Branch, the newsletter provides the most up-to-date information on news and upcoming events of interest to civil society at UN headquarters in New York, Geneva and elsewhere. The latest issue highlights an open call by the NGO Branch for written and oral statements for the 2014 ECOSOC High-Level Segment as well as the conclusion of the 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Discussion papers
Monthly Briefing on the World Economic Situation and Prospects No. 64
Published by UN DESA’s Development Policy and Analysis Division, the March issue is available online, putting the spotlight on the world economy’s struggle to gain momentum, the policy dilemma facing emerging economies in trying to stabilize currencies and G20 leaders calling for new measures to lift growth and create jobs.
Working papers
Crisis mismanagement in the US and Europe: impact on developing countries and longer-term consequences
There are two major failings in policy interventions in the crisis in the US and Europe: the reluctance to remove the debt overhang through timely, orderly and comprehensive restructuring and the shift to fiscal austerity after an initial reflation. These have resulted in excessive reliance on monetary means with central banks entering uncharted policy waters, including zero-bound interest rates and the acquisition of long-term public and private bonds.
This ultra-easy monetary policy has not been very effective in reducing the debt overhang and stimulating spending. It has, however, generated financial fragility, at home and abroad, particularly in the case of the US as the issuer of the key reserve currency, and exit is full of pitfalls. Although ultra-easy money is still with us, the markets have begun pricing-in the normalization of monetary policy in the US and this is the main reason for the turbulence in emerging economies. Policy response to an intensification of the stress in the South needs to depart from past practices and should include measures to involve the private creditors in crisis resolution and provision of market support and liquidity by central banks in major advanced economies.
