Welcome to the United Nations
Twenty years ago, the international community gathered in Cairo, Egypt, to explore how the world was changing and how those changes were affecting the most vulnerable. At the 1994 meeting, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the world agreed that population issues – including voluntary family planning, maternal and child health, migration, and gender equality – are not just about counting people, but about making sure that every person counts.
Today, the world is very different, transformed by the digital revolution and advances in medicine and human knowledge. But has it changed in the ways we hoped it would?
Below, UNFPA reflects on some of the biggest ways our world is different, and what more must be done. (A selection on issues directly connected to social development has been made for the purposes of this article. For the full report please visit UNFPA’s website).
1. The proportion of people living in extreme poverty has been cut nearly in half – but economic inequality is now growing. The proportion of people living on less than $1.25 per day has fallen from 47 per cent in 1990 to 22 percent in 2010. But growing inequality could undermine these gains.
2. More children are attending school than ever – and the largest gains have been among girls. Primary school enrolment rates have jumped from around three quarters in 1990 to about 90 per cent in 2010. This is an especially huge victory for girls, who have gained parity in primary school enrolment in a majority of countries. Girls with access to education are better able to avoid adolescent pregnancy and better able to access health care and livelihood opportunities.
But gender inequalities in education persist, with girls lagging behind boys in secondary school enrolment.
3. The world is increasingly urban. The global urban population rose by 1.6 billion between 1994 and 2014. More than half the world’s people now live in towns or cities. But too much of this growth is taking place in slums. Over 650 million people lived in slums in 1990. In 2010, that number was 820 million. Impoverished urban women and girls are especially vulnerable: they are less likely to have access to reproductive health services, education and security.
4. The world now has the largest generation of young people ever.
Adolescents and youth, those between 10 and 24 years old, accounted for 28 per cent of the world population in 2010. The world must invest in the needs and rights of this group, supporting their access to quality health care and education, opportunities for safe paid work, and freedom from abuses.
BUT…
5. The world is getting older. Older people – those over age 60 – are the world’s fastest-growing age group. The number of older persons increased from 490 million in 1990 to 765 million in 2010. The world must do more to accommodate the needs of this group, including through social protections and systems that ensure their safety and meaningful participation in society.
Unfortunately, there are many more ways in which the world has not changed enough.
Discrimination against women continues in every society in the world, and belief in gender equality is not yet universal. Women are still denied equal access to opportunities and the ability to define the direction of their lives. Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and child marriage remain prevalent in much of the world, even in countries where these practices have been outlawed. Gender-based violence continues to be a global epidemic. An estimated one in three women report experiencing physical or sexual abuse, most commonly by an intimate partner.
This week, the United Nations Commission on Population and Development will hold its 47th session to address many of these issues, reviewing the progress made and the significant work that remains to be done. As the last 20 years have made clear, human rights – including women’s and girls' rights – must be placed at the heart of global development.
For more information, please click here
SOURCE & COPYRIGHT: © UNFPA