FAQ

What exactly is the Yearbook?

The Yearbook of the United Nations is the authoritative reference work on the annual activities and concerns of the United Nations. It provides comprehensive coverage of the Organization’s work in all fields throughout the world over the course of a single calendar year. The Yearbook is divided into sections corresponding to the major areas of UN work, addressing political and security issues; human rights; economic and social matters; legal questions; and institutional, administrative and budgetary matters. Please see the About the Yearbook section of this website for more information.

Is the Yearbook a UN official document?

The Yearbook is based on UN official documents, but it is not itself a UN official document. Hence, the Yearbook carries no UN official document symbol.

How many Yearbooks have been published?

With the publication of the 2014 Yearbook, the entire Yearbook collection comprises sixty-eight volumes. The 2015 Yearbook—the sixty-ninth volume—is in production for publication provisionally in 2021. The Yearbook has been published regularly since the earliest days of the United Nations; the first Yearbook covers the origin and evolution of the Organization itself through 1947. Please see the scrolling gallery of Yearbook cover art for a graphic overview of the Yearbook collection, and the About the Yearbook section of this website for more information.

What is the latest Yearbook available on this website?

The latest Yearbook available for regular use on this website as part of the Yearbook collection is the most recently published volume—currently the 2014 edition. The 2015 edition will become available in full on the Pre-press section of this website as draft edited and copyedited typeset chapters are produced. For coverage of United Nations consideration, deliberation and action in subsequent years, please see the regularly updated Yearbook Pre-press section for chapter drafts and detailed chapter research outlines of Yearbooks currently in production. 

Why is the Yearbook for the previous calendar year not yet available?

The Yearbook is based on official documents of the United Nations and its related agencies. Due to editorial as well as parliamentary or procedural reasons, many of those documents are issued only in the year or years following the events to which they pertain. This delay in documentation of annual UN consideration, deliberation and action creates a natural lag in production of corresponding Yearbook coverage, given its comprehensive and complete nature. It also means, however, that the Yearbook Unit works on researching, writing, editing and finalizing several volumes at once. Please see the regularly updated Yearbook Pre-press section of this website for chapter drafts and detailed chapter research outlines of Yearbooks currently in production. 

What Yearbook is currently in production, and when will it be available in print?

The Yearbook Unit works on researching, writing, editing and finalizing several volumes at once. Please see the regularly updated Yearbook Pre-press section of this website for chapter drafts and detailed chapter research outlines of Yearbooks currently in production. The 2015 edition of the Yearbook of the United Nations is currently in production for publication in 2021.

Is the Yearbook available in languages other than English?

The Yearbook of the United Nations is published only in English. The high cost of translating a volume the size and scope of the Yearbook virtually ensures that it will remain an English-only publication. The Yearbook Unit works with volunteer translators engaged through the United Nations Volunteers Online Volunteering service to provide speakers of all six UN official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) with summarized Yearbook content. The online-only publication, Yearbook Express is available for numerous recent years. The Express comprises the introductions of all the chapters of selected Yearbooks, along with the Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization in those years, in all six UN official languages. Work is underway to collaborate with United Nations Volunteers Online to produce further editions of the Yearbook Express based on prior volumes from the Yearbook collection. For the Chinese edition of the Express, the Yearbook Unit is proud to collaborate with Soochow University. Work on the subsequent editions of the Yearbook Express will commence when those later Yearbooks have been finalized and volunteer teams established. Until then, please consult the Yearbook Pre-press section of this website for chapter drafts and detailed chapter research outlines of Yearbooks currently in production.