|DESA News Vol. 11, No. 3||March 2007|
The health of middle-income countries is to the international system what a strong middle class is to any society, the foundation upon which social achievements can be sustained. And as is the case with societies in general, economic advancement of the middle-income group is an essential ingredient of broader regional stability. Yet the high volatility of economic growth among middle-income countries has resulted in frequent growth collapses, which in turn have generated serious pressures on democratic governance.
The Statistical Commission has created the language for statisticians worldwide to communicate. If anniversaries are a good opportunity to take stock of accomplishments made and challenges ahead, the sixtieth anniversary of the Statistical Commission reminds us that the body of statistical standards it has built throughout six decades allows for talking about a global statistical system in the first place.
Timothy E. Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation and former United States senator, hosts a press conference on 27 February to introduce a report of the Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, prepared for the 15th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development. According to scientific leaders, the world is sixty percent of the way to the point where the danger of intolerable and unmanageable impacts of climate change on human well-being rise rapidly.
This online database contains estimates on the number of international migrants in each country or area of the world as of 1 July of the years 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005. The estimates are presented for both sexes combined and separately, with information on the estimated number of refugees, the total population, the growth rate of the migrant stock, the percentage of international migrants in the population, the percentage of female migrants among all international migrants, the percentage of international migrants by major area or region, and the percentage of refugees among all international migrants.