No Poverty

To take further the methodological work and develop recommendations to countries on data disaggregation with particular focus to poverty measurement, the Conference of European Statisticians established a task force, which worked through 2018 and 2019 to develop the present Guide. The task force consisted of 30 statistical experts from UNECE member countries, other countries participating in the work of the Conference of European Statisticians, international organizations and academia. It builds on the UNECE Guide on Poverty Measurement published in 2017. The Guide’s recommendations aim to improve national poverty statistics by ensuring better availability of disaggregated data for measuring poverty in alignment with international standards. The publication mainly targets national statistical authorities and provides useful information for policymakers, researchers and other users of poverty data.

Focusing on population dynamics, household composition, family formation, housing conditions, health, COVID-19, education, labour, poverty, inequality and culture and social participation, this report presents a broad illustration of Arab society and the ways in which it is changing. Data have been drawn primarily from the national statistical offices of ESCWA Member States. They have been supplemented by publicly accessible data from international agencies such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, the World Bank and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

L'objectif principal de cette étude est de mettre en lumière la situation critique à Gaza en estimant les coûts du blocus et des opérations de l'armée israélienne. La première partie de l'étude utilise deux trajectoires de croissance contrefactuelles pour Gaza, pour donner une indication sur l'ampleur de la croissance économique potentielle non réalisée qui aurait pu être réalisée si le blocus de Gaza et les opérations militaires n'avaient pas eu lieu pendant la période 2007-2018. La deuxième partie de l'étude applique des méthodes quantitatives pour estimer le taux de pauvreté et l'écart de pauvreté. Cela permet d'évaluer l'impact du blocus et des opérations militaires sur le bien-être des ménages à Gaza. L'étude contient également un ensemble de recommandations à l'intention de la puissance occupante, des décideurs politiques palestiniens, de la communauté internationale et des agences de développement concernant la nécessité de mettre fin au blocus de Gaza et d'atténuer son lourd impact.

The Investment Policy Review (IPR) of Seychelles assesses the country’s legal, regulatory and institutional framework for investment. This includes the analysis of FDI-specific regulations (investment laws, sectoral investment regulations and international investment agreements), and also general regulatory and operational aspects affecting both domestic and foreign investors (such as issues related to tax policy, competition, trade, environmental protection, business operations, intellectual property etc.). The IPR provides concrete policy recommendations to foster economic diversification, private sector development as well as institutional development and capacity building.

The Review provides an in-depth analysis and update on developments in seaborne trade, the maritime industry and markets, key performance indicators, and the legal and regulatory environment. The 2020 issue counts on a number of novel data sets that help analyse the performance of seaports in terms of productivity and connectivity, as well as the world fleet in terms of emissions. It provides a thorough review of the impact and implications that the COVID-19 pandemic has on ports and the maritime businesses, and how the industry has responded. It includes a number of testimonies from industry and government stakeholders to share experiences and good practices of responses to the pandemic.

The report presents a new UNCTAD tool aimed at fostering the effective implementation of investment policy review recommendations at country level. The objective of this document is twofold: it aims to explore some of the policy tools, strategies and mechanisms put in place by countries to advance investment policy reforms, and to highlight practices and initiatives which could be successfully replicated. The study also presents a new interactive tool developed by UNCTAD – the Live implementation matrix. The tool will assist countries to keep track of the progress made in implementing the recommendations of UNCTAD’s Investment Policy Reviews (IPRs), and to better support them in achieving their sustainable development objectives.

Disability-inclusive employment has yet to be achieved in the Asia-Pacific region, home to 472 million working-age persons with disabilities. Employment data concerning persons with disabilities are scarce across countries in the region. Where such data do exist, persons with disabilities - especially women, youth, and rural habitants among them - are found to fare worse than those without in the labor market. Disability at a Glance 2021: The Shaping of Disability-inclusive Employment in Asia and the Pacific seeks to equip ESCAP members and associate members with updated information and insights on promoting employment for persons with disabilities in the region, through snapshots of the latest figures, trends, policy developments, and inspirational practices.

This volume investigates the status of regional integration in Southern Africa. It discusses the critical challenges to be overcome and surveys the most interesting opportunities for achieving deeper regional integration. The publication is divided into in three parts. The first is on structural transformation and the role of regional integration; the second is on the enablers of regional integration; and the third consists of case studies on regional value chains.

Drawing on the 2019 revision of World Population Prospects, the World Population Ageing 2019 (Highlights) document global and regional trends in population ageing, including consideration of the implications of these trends for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The report also presents various concepts and indicators related to population ageing and discusses related fiscal and economic implications.

Prepared in the context of the process of Myanmar’s graduation from LDC status, this publication document contains insights into the particular vulnerabilities or fragilities of the country and the implications of these disadvantages. The profile helps national authorities understand the critical relationship between the need for resilience-building action, and LDC status as a basis for eligibility for special support to this action. It is organized around four pillars: (i) a situation analysis; (ii) identification of key areas of vulnerability; (iii) evaluation of the consequences of identified vulnerabilities; and (iv) identification of structures and features of the economy that are critical for a sustainable graduation and for reducing existing vulnerabilities. Topics covered include the socio-economic impact of COVID-19, pervasive informality, inequalities and gender issues.

Continuing the thread of the 2019 and 2020 Human Development Reports (HDRs), the 2021/2022 HDR carries forward a conversation centered on inequalities while integrating other important themes related to uncertainties in the Anthropocene: societal-level transformations, mental health impacts, political polarization, but also, crucially, opportunity. The Report explores how uncertainty in the Anthropocene is changing, what is driving it, what it means for human development, and how we can thrive in spite of it. The Report argues that, in the end, doubling down on human development is central to a more prosperous future for all.

International trade and investment have been indispensable engines of economic growth in Asia and the Pacific and remain essential means of implementation for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, this economic growth has come with significant social and environmental costs, including the rapidly worsening climate crisis. This report is focused on how “climate-smart” trade and investment-related policies can help address climate change, taking into account the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. The links between trade, investment and climate change are complex. The key is to ensure that the positive effects of trade and investment are maximized, such as by promoting trade and investment in renewable energy and low-carbon technologies, while the negative effects are minimized, such as by digitalizing trade and transport systems. Putting a price on carbon and eliminating fossil fuel subsidies remain fundamental elements on which urgent progress need to be made if trade and investment are to become more sustainable. As key trade partners seriously consider putting in place border taxes on carbon to address carbon leakages and loss of competitiveness induced by domestic carbon pricing policies, economies in the region not taking steps towards reducing emissions risk being pushed out of key markets. While implementing climate-smart policies may come at a cost in terms of required additional investments, particularly for emission-intensive sectors and economies, the cost of inaction is far greater. The roll-out of COVID-19 recovery packages may provide opportunities to invest in low-carbon technologies and sectors, opportunities that should not be missed in light of the urgency for action.

This report focuses on how multidimensional poverty has declined. It provides a comprehensive picture of global trends in multidimensional poverty, covering 5 billion people. It probes patterns between and within countries and by indicator, showcasing different ways of making progress. Together with data on the $1.90 a day poverty rate, the trends monitor global poverty in different forms. This is a key moment to study how nonmonetary poverty goes down. It is 10 years before 2030, the due date of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whose first goal is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. And it is a year when a pandemic and economic slowdown are pushing many more into poverty, while the spectre of racism still haunts, and environmental threats such as locusts surge. Multidimensional poverty is strongly associated with other SDG challenges. Concentrated in rural areas, multidimensionally poor people tend to experience lower vaccination rates and secondary school achievement, insecure work and greater environmental threats. By detailing the connections between the MPI and other poverty-related SDGs, the report highlights how the lives of multidimensionally poor people are precarious in ways that extend beyond the MPI’s 10 component indicators. The COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in the midst of this analysis. While data are not yet available to measure the rise of global poverty after the pandemic, simulations based on different scenarios suggest that, if unaddressed, progress across 70 developing countries could be set back 3–10 years.

This report presents a compact update on the state of multidimensional poverty (henceforth referred to as “poverty”) in the world. It compiles data from 110 developing countries covering 6.1 billion people, accounting for 92 percent of the population in developing countries. It tells an important and persistent story about how prevalent poverty is in the world and provides insights into the lives of poor people, their deprivations and how intense their poverty is—to inform and accelerate efforts to end poverty in all its forms. As still only a few countries have data from after the COVID-19 pandemic, the report urgently calls for updated multidimensional poverty data. And while providing a sobering annual stock take of global poverty, the report also highlights examples of success in every region.

Zambia belongs to the least developed countries' (LDCs) and landlocked developing countries’ (LLDCs) groups. The country has made socioeconomic progress in some areas, but still exhibits many of the challenges afflicting LDCs in general. Zambia’s economy remains significantly dependent on the mining and export of copper. This has left the economy vulnerable to fluctuations in the copper price and highly exposed to external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Zambia’s economy is furthermore characterized by weak productive capacities and lack of structural economic transformation. UNCTAD prepares National Productive Capacities Gap Assessments (NPCGA) to provide support to graduating LDCs, following the inclusion of the Productive Capacities Index (PCI) in the graduation monitoring process, in view of developing their smooth transition strategies. The NPCGA examines Zambia’s socioeconomic challenges, opportunities, and prospects. It identifies comparative advantages of the country and key binding constraints to socioeconomic development. It recommends a series of pragmatic and forward-looking policy actions at domestic level together with international support measures (ISMs) aimed at fostering productive capacities and achieving structural economic transformation. The ultimate objective of NPCGA is to enable Zambia to graduate with momentum from the LDC category and to realize its ambition to become a prosperous middle-income nation by 2030.

El Índice de Pobreza Multidimensional (IPM) global elaborado por el Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD) y la Iniciativa de Pobreza y Desarrollo Humano de Oxford mide la pobreza considerando varias privaciones experimentadas por las personas en su vida diaria, incluida la mala salud, la educación insuficiente y un bajo nivel de vivir. Este informe examina el nivel y la composición de la pobreza multidimensional en 109 países que cubren a 5900 millones de personas y presenta un desglose por etnia/raza/casta para 41 países con información disponible.

Cette étude traite de la fuite des recettes fiscales palestiniennes vers Israël et fournit des données réactualisées concernant les sources desdites pertes. Elle explique que les coûts fiscaux font partie des coûts économiques globaux causés par l'occupation et se composent de deux éléments dont les fuites fiscales palestiniennes vers Israël dans le cadre du Protocole de Paris relatif aux Relations économiques, et également d'autres pertes fiscales qui ne sont pas reçues en Israël mais sont causées par des politiques et mesures imposées de par l'occupation prolongée.

Competition and market access challenges are being faced by Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) around the world as they seek to deal with the impact of COVID-19 on their operations. This publication is prepared within the Development Account project on COVID 19 and the resurgence of SMEs.

There is perhaps no stronger evidence of the pressing need to redesign our global system than the fact that a global health crisis doubled the wealth of the 10 richest men in the world while sending upwards of 120 million people into extreme poverty. This UNRISD Flagship Report shows how inequalities and crises reinforce and compound each other, leading to extreme disparity, vulnerability and unsustainability. It argues that this is not the result of a broken system but one in which inequality and injustice are built in by design. The social contract has unravelled to the great detriment of people and planet. The report associates the multiple crises and increasing inequalities we are facing with policy choices promoted during the age of neoliberal hyperglobalization. It unpacks the implications for sustainable development and for disadvantaged social groups through the lenses of intersectionality and power. To address inequality, break the cycle of multiple and interlocking crises, and work toward a more equal, just and sustainable future, the report proposes the creation of a new eco-social contract and a policy approach based on alternative economies, transformative social policies, and reimagined multilateralism and strengthened solidarities.

The race to net zero focuses on three key sectors from which greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced and how this can be done. It considers how the energy sector can end its dependency on coal and phase out other fossil fuels; how to support low-carbon mobility and logistics; and how international trade and investment can help accelerate the transition of the region’s industries to a low-carbon future. Concrete proposals are made as to how these major shifts can be financed and how better to measure challenges and progress. The proposals are grounded in regional cooperation. The present report presents recommendations on building regional frameworks or partnerships on green power corridor, low-carbon transport, and a low-carbon and climate-smart transition, and collaborating on policies for climate-smart trade and investment, climate finance and monitoring.

This year’s report focuses on the lives of migrant women. Every year millions of women working overseas send hundreds of millions of dollars in remittances back to their homes and communities. These funds go to feed and educate children, provide health care, build homes, foster small businesses and generally improve living standards for loved ones left behind. For host countries, the labour of migrant women is so embedded in the fabric of society that it goes virtually unnoticed. Migrant women toil in the households of working families, soothe the sick and comfort the elderly. They contribute their technical and professional expertise, pay taxes and quietly support a quality of life that many take for granted.

Migration is an expanding global reality, one that allows millions of people to seek new opportunities. But it also involves challenges for migrants and for societies, both in areas of origin and of destination. This report analyses migratory flows – internal and international – and how they are linked to processes of economic development, demographic change, and natural-resource pressure. The focus is on rural migration, the many forms it takes and the important role it plays in both developing and developed countries. The report investigates the drivers and impacts of rural migration and highlights how related policy priorities depend on country contexts that are in continuous evolution.