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. LXIX – No. 2, February 2015
In addition to the regular recurrent monthly tables, this issue includes quarterly tables: Retail price indices relating to living expenditures of United Nations officials, Earnings in manufacturing, by sex and Total exports and imports by regions: quantum and unit value indices and terms of trade in US dollars.
Outreach material
Sustainable Development in Action, Volume 3, Issue 3
The March issue of the Sustainable Development in Action newsletter, published by UN DESA’s Division for Sustainable Development is available online, featuring articles including on the Global Sustainable Development Report, discussions on the vision for the post-2015 development agenda and mainstreaming the sustainable development goal on energy. 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.
Youth Flash Newsletter
United Nations Youth Flash March edition is now available, including a feature article on “Achieving Gender Equality by 2030 Is Possible!” written by Vivian Onano, a youth representative at UN Women Global Civil Society Advisory Group, who describes her experiences with gender inequality while growing up in Kenya. The newsletter is a service of the Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) Focal Point on Youth to help keep the public informed about the work of the UN on youth issues. It is prepared with input from UN offices, agencies, funds and programmes, and from youth organizations all over the world.
DESA NGO News
Putting a spotlight on the 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, a successful Third UN Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and a redesigned multilingual UN portal, the latest issue of DESA NGO News has been issued. 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.
Discussion papers
Monthly Briefing on the World Economic Situation and Prospects No. 76
Prepared by UN DESA’s Development Policy and Analysis Division, the March issue is available online with the following summary:
– Central banks in developed and emerging economies ease monetary policy
– Agreement reached to extend Greece’s bailout programme through June
– Inflation pressures increasing in CIS economies, while easing in many other emerging economies
Working papers
Towards integration at last? The sustainable development goals as a network of targets
In 2014, UN Member States proposed a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as reference goals for the international development community for the period 2015-2030. The proposed goals and targets can be seen as a network, in which links among goals exist through targets that refer to multiple goals. Using network analysis techniques, we show that some thematic areas covered by the SDGs are well connected among one another. Other parts of the network have weaker connections with the rest of the system.
The SDGs as a whole are a more integrated system than the MDGs were, which may facilitate policy integration across sectors. However, many of the links among goals that have been documented in biophysical, economic and social dimensions are not explicitly reflected in the SDGs. Beyond the added visibility that the SDGs provide to links among thematic areas, attempts at policy integration across various areas will have to be based on studies of the biophysical, social and economic systems.
