Published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the 2002 Human Development Report emphasizes the importance of politics to successful human development and urges the creation and maintenance of potent forms of democratic governance at all levels of society. Entitled "Deepening democracy in a fragmented world," this 292-page report contains five chapters -- The state and progress of...
This new 190-page release from the Census Bureau and the National Institute of Aging (NIA) presents comparative data related to aging, including population and projected population internationally, life expectancy, retirement, health information, and social support. The report was, in part, inspired by a review from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) that argued for an international focus on...
The number of independent think-tank groups around the U.K. continues to grow, but Demos is certainly one of the more compelling, and one that persons with an interest in public policy, governance, and other related topics will want to take a look at. The research at Demos is focused primarily around five themes: democracy, learning, enterprise, quality of life and global change. Along with its...
Given the tough economic times in the United States (and elsewhere) and renewed discussions about how to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, this site, while not new, is timely. Eartheasy, a personal offering from Greg Seaman, grew out of Seaman's experiences living with his wife and children on a rural island in Vancouver. The site aims "to encourage, inspire and inform people of the inherent...
Released on Monday July 12, the tenth edition of the United Nation Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Report has garnered considerable attention from the international press all week. The report ranks 174 countries on quality of life indicators such as life expectancy, wealth, and literacy, ranking Canada at the top and Sierra Leone at the bottom. The report pays particular attention...
The United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report Office provides two useful selections from its Human Development Report 1997. Overview of HDR 1997 is a detailed summary of the contents of the report, discussing world poverty and a six point strategy for poverty reduction. HDR 1997 Rankings contain Human Development Index, Gender-Related Development Index and Gender Empowerment...
Released on July 10, the latest edition of the United Nation Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Report ranks 162 countries on quality-of-life indicators such as life expectancy, wealth, and literacy. It also includes analysis of the progress of countries towards meeting international development targets as well as assessing the technology achievements of 72 countries. This year,...
The notion of human development is one that is quite old, even if it has not always gone by that name. The United Nations understands human development to be about “creating an environment in which people can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests”. In this way, of course, many ancient city-states and other such communities of...
The Living Standards Measurements Study (LSMS) Website, from the World Bank Group, serves as a resource for researchers, worldwide, with data sets and methodological lessons taken from LSMS's household surveys. This site guides users through an introduction to LSMS and includes a five-step process to determine if data will be helpful for users's needs. In addition to the actual data, the site...
This United Nations Children's Fund report on the world's children focuses on nutrition. The report contains a forward by UN Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan and sections addressing the scale of malnutrition, successful approaches to combatting child hunger, and scientific breakthroughs in nutrition. Additional features include statistical tables, special issue panels, spotlights, text figures,...