1997 REPORT ON WORLD SOCIAL SITUATION ADDRESSES SOCIAL ISSUES WITH EMPHASIS ON LIVING CONDITIONS

18 February 1997

Press Release
SOC/4411

1997 REPORT ON WORLD SOCIAL SITUATION ADDRESSES SOCIAL ISSUES WITH EMPHASIS ON LIVING CONDITIONS

19970218 Also Focus on Core Themes of Copenhagen Social Summit: Eradication of Poverty, Expansion of Productive Employment, Social Integration

New York, 18 February (DESIPA) -- Two years after a ground-breaking United Nations summit meeting drew international attention to the growing dangers of poverty, unemployment and social disintegration, the Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis (DESIPA) has prepared a far-reaching, meticulously detailed assessment of global social issues and policy options that will be among the documents before the upcoming session of the Commission for Social Development.

The study, the 1997 Report on the World Social Situation, is intended as a comprehensive analytical tool for policy makers, experts and citizens involved in developing strategies to implement the agreements reached at the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995). The Summit, the first such global meeting to focus on social development issues, was attended by 117 heads of State and government, who approved a Declaration and Programme of Action.

The Report, which is issued every four years, consists of two major parts. Part I provides an overview of social issues, with an emphasis on living conditions. It starts with a presentation of economic patterns at the global and regional levels. It further appraises population trends both globally and regionally along with the demographic components of fertility, mortality and international migration that determine those trends.

The chapter on health notes that life expectancy has actually fallen in two groups of countries: sub-Saharan Africa and the countries in transition to market economies. Part I also provides an assessment of the global trends in hunger and malnutrition, and it elucidates policy approaches. It closes with a discussion on reducing gaps in education, including formal education, adult illiteracy and the quality of education systems.

Part II of the Report addresses the core themes of the 1995 Social Summit Programme of Action: eradication of poverty, expansion of productive

employment and social integration. Each chapter discusses policy issues and options, domestic approaches and international instruments. The chapter on poverty examines major trends in absolute and relative poverty worldwide and its relationship to world economic growth. The chapter on employment and unemployment assesses the situation in developing, transitional and developed economies. The chapter on discrimination focuses on the structure and patterns of gender and minority discrimination.

The Report builds on concepts developed at the Social Summit, including the notion "that economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development".

According to the Report, the recent world economic performance is characterized by an annual growth rate of 2.5 per cent (1994-1996), a rate which is still lower than the average rate of the 1980s, because of the weakness of the economic recovery in developed economies. The current pattern of global economic strengthening reflects a broad-based expansion among countries, mostly among transition and developing economies, which have improved their competitiveness and exports due to reduced trade barriers, earlier stabilization measures and structural adjustment efforts.

In addition, the Report states, the continued strong international financial flows since the early 1990s have supplemented domestic resources of recipient countries. But, many developing countries remain severely indebted, and current per capita income levels remain below those of 1980 in much of Africa, Latin America and west Asia. The economic recovery of developed economies exhibits modest growth, virtual stagnation of real wages and high levels of unemployment.

The Report examines the size and growth of the world population, along with the demographic components of fertility, mortality and international migration. In the middle of 1996, world population stood at 5.77 billion people. Eighty per cent of the world's population representing 4.59 billion persons live in less developed regions, and 1.18 billion people live in more developed regions.

The study focuses on three aspects of the global health sitution: the decline of life expectancy (particularly in Africa and the transition economies), the burden of ill health and the emergence of new infectious diseases. With respect to public health policies, the Report assesses the costs of neglecting public health systems and suggests that global cooperation in public health be a priority. For instance, it points out that malnutrition, poor water supply, sanitation and hygiene are responsible for 30 per cent of the disease burden in developing countries. Incurable diseases that have emerged in addition to AIDS are drug-resistant malaria, tuberculosis

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and cholera. Attention is also drawn to the fact that the two largest risk factors in both the developed and transition economies are tobacco and alcohol.

People in virtually every country suffer from hunger and mulnutrition, the Report notes, but the extent and pattern differ substantially from country to country. Estimates demonstrating that the total number of undernourished in the developing world exceeds the total population of the developed world.

In its assessment of education, the Report concludes that enrolment in primary and secondary schools has risen since 1960 from an estimated 250 million children to more than 1 billion. The enrolment in higher education more than doubled in the past 20 years, from 28 million students in 1970 to more than 60 million today. The number of literate adults has almost tripled, from approximatively 1 billion in 1960 to more than 2.7 billion. However, despite enormous efforts to eradicate adult illiteracy, the absolute number of illiterate adults has increased from 877 million in 1980 to 885 million in 1995, the majority of which (872 million) live in developing countries.

Despite marked progress in raising levels of income almost one quarter of the world's population live in a state of severe poverty, the Report found. The overwhelming majority of the poor live in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, China, east Asia and the Pacific.

The Report shows region-by-region how world economic growth and social advance have taken place unevenly. In fact, the pattern of long-term growth has sharply marked contrasts in eradicating poverty in different parts of the world. For instance, the rapid growth rate in south and east Asia, combined with supportive macroeconomic and trade policies, has helped to diminish absolute poverty in these regions. But, there has been a large increase in poverty in low-income countries, especially in the poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Increased poverty in some Latin American countries is being attributed to the debt crisis of the 1980s and ineffective stabilization policies.

In view of the widening gap between the rich and the poor both across and within countries and based on the international commitment to eradicate poverty confirmed by the Social Summit, the Report discusses several strategies for reducing poverty. Those include promoting high rates of economic expansion, creating employment, investing in human capital, advancing opportunities for the poor, targeting poverty and providing a safety net for vulnerable groups. The chapter concludes with a set of requirements for least developed and disadvantaged countries to participate in the world economy.

On employment, the study notes that solving the problem of unemployment appears more difficult today than it did 50 years ago. Policy makers confront

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the difficulty of devising policies that address equity concerns while simultaneously preserving the structure of incentives needed to obtain efficient outcomes. The Report describes in detail the structural changes in labour markets (in particular the segments of women and youth) and the employment situations and policies of developed, developing and transitional economies. Despite the re-emergence of unemployment as a policy focus, the Report concludes that the world economy is absorbing the bulk of a rapidly rising global labour force, which is better educated, possesses greater skills and is more mobile than ever before. As a result, it proposes employment policies that conform with rapid changes in economic conditions.

Discussing discrimination and intolerance, the Report analyses the anatomy and patterns of discrimination, in particular gender discrimination and the situation of minorities. It shows how discriminatory practices are based on embedded social mechanisms or explicit public policies on the gender division of labour, political contexts, education, households and access to credit. It also discusses the effectiveness of several policies and measures to combat discrimination, such as quotas, reverse discrimination, positive action or affirmative action, which institute preferences for members of certain disadvantaged groups. It notes, however, that those policies tend to increase disparities within minority groups and that policies which attack the underlying factors of discrimination and inequality may be more effective.

For further information, contact DESIPA's Microeconomic and Social Analysis Division, Two UN Plaza, Room DC2-2020; tel.: (212) 963-3924; fax: (212) 963-1061; e-mail: horn@un.org; or the Department of Public Information, room S-1040, New York, NY 10017; tel.: (212) 963-3771; fax: (212) 963-1186; e- mail: vasuc@un.org; Internet home page: http://www.un.org.

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Note:To order the 1997 Report on the World Social Situation (Sales No. E.97.IV.1, ISBN 92-1-130182-3) contact United Nations Publications, Two UN Plaza, Room DC 2-853, New York, NY 10017, Tel. 1-800-253-9646 or (212) 963-8302, fax. (212) 963-3489, e-mail: publications@un.org.