The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
WHO published its World health statistics report 2025, revealing the deeper health impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on loss of lives, longevity and overall health and well-being. In just two years, between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years—the largest drop in recent history— reversing a …
The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
Women-led and women’s rights organizations are on the frontlines of today’s humanitarian crises—but many are at risk of disappearing. As global needs rise due to conflict, climate change, and displacement, deep cuts to foreign aid are threatening organizations that provide life-saving services for women and girls. In March 2025, UN …
Central to the achievement of the Agenda for Sustainable Development is an adequate, equitably distributed and fully supported health workforce. Nurses are the largest occupational group and represent an indispensable force with which to combat inequities in access to health services and progress towards health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while …
For billions of people, mountain meltwater is essential for drinking water and sanitation, food and energy security, and the integrity of the environment. But today, as the world warms, glaciers are melting faster than ever, making the water cycle more unpredictable and extreme. And because of glacial retreat, floods, droughts, …
In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion. The year 2024 was marked by extreme temperature events in Asia that caused thousands of deaths, severe droughts in Africa affecting over 25 …
The IEA’s special report Energy and AI, out today, offers the most comprehensive, data-driven global analysis to date on the growing connections between energy and AI. The report draws on new datasets and extensive consultation with policy makers, the tech sector, the energy industry and international experts. It projects that …
The 2025 Interconnected Disaster Risks report shifts focus from diagnosing problems to mapping out solutions. It establishes that many of today’s solutions are surface-level fixes, and that to create lasting change, we need to question the societal structures and mindsets that perpetuate these challenges. The report offers a more holistic …
In a world of higher electricity demand growth, clean electricity is stepping up to the challenge. Spearheaded by exponential solar expansion, clean power is set to grow faster than demand, marking the start of a permanent decline in fossil generation. 2024 both clarified and consolidated the shape of the global …
At least 242 million students in 85 countries had their schooling disrupted by extreme climate events in 2024, including heatwaves, tropical cyclones, storms, floods, and droughts, exacerbating an existing learning crisis, according to a new UNICEF analysis released today. Heatwaves were the predominant climate hazard shuttering schools last year, with …
This white paper examines the current challenges for clean energy infrastructure and identifies solutions that industrial clusters, transport and logistics industries, and the wider clean energy value chain can jointly explore in order to accelerate its deployment. Thirteen new industrial clusters from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, India, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, …
In 2024, global employment expanded in line with a growing labour force, keeping the global unemployment rate steady at 5 per cent, similar to that of 2023. Slowing productivity growth remains a major bottleneck with respect to expanding the opportunities for decent work. On the back of stable unemployment rates, …
The Global status report on road safety 2023 shows that the number of annual road traffic deaths has fallen slightly to 1.19 million. Road traffic deaths and injuries remain a major global health and development challenge. As of 2019, road traffic crashes are the leading killer of children and youth …
This report aims to improve the understanding of the role of nature-based solutions (NbS) in the world of work and in a just transition towards environmentally sustainable and inclusive economies and societies. NbS hold significant potential to advance global sustainable development and potentially generate 20–32 million new jobs by 2030 …
The report finds that since the early 2000’s, on average, wage inequality, which compares the wages of high and low wage earners, decreased in many countries at an average rate that ranged from 0.5 to 1.7 per cent annually, depending on the measure used. The most significant decreases occurred among …
With global population increasingly concentrating in urban areas, cities are driving national economic growth, while also grappling with challenges such as inequalities, affordable housing shortages, extreme weather events, pollution, and loss of green space. National Urban Policies (NUPs) can play a key role in managing these challenges and unlocking the …
The Global Gender Gap Index annually benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment). It is the longest-standing index tracking the progress of numerous countries’ efforts towards closing these gaps over time since …
Renewables generated a record 30 percent of global electricity in 2023, driven by growth in solar and wind especially from China, according to the Global Electricity Review 2024 released by the global energy think tank Ember. The report suggests that 2023 marks a significant turning point in the power sector, …
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched the World Migration Report 2024, which reveals significant shifts in global migration patterns, including a record number of displaced people and a major increase in international remittances. The report highlights that international migration remains a driver of human development and economic growth, highlighted …
