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Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe Blog

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicator framework has been developed with 231 indicators for global monitoring of the 2030 Agenda. However, the applicability of certain indicators to…

Photo credit: Unsplash/Muhammad Abdul Majid Blog

Sustainable Development Goal 3 focuses on ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages. Age-specific mortality estimates are needed to measure many of those targets, but adult…

Photo credit: UN Photo/Kibae Park Blog

Have you ever tried to register a birth, a death or maybe your own marriage? Unfortunately, many of these vital events in Asia and the Pacific remain unregistered often with dire consequences for…

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Ncognet0 Blog

Each year, the births of 64 million children under the age of five and deaths of 8.4 million people are invisible to governments in Asia and the Pacific. Most countries in the region are yet to…

Blog

“How many people have died from COVID-19?” - this seemingly straightforward question cannot be answered in many countries due to the absence of a complete and well-functioning civil registration…

iStockphoto / Ijeab Op-ed

As we reach the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the Asia-Pacific region’s progress and accelerate efforts to achieve our goals.

iStockphoto/Stocknshares Blog

Every year, millions of people in Asia and the Pacific die without their deaths being registered. The under-registration of deaths has serious consequences for individuals, families, communities and…

Photo credit: Shutterstock/pzAxe Blog

The world is due to reach 8 billion people today, November 15! This very precise date hides an uncomfortable truth – we don’t really know exactly how many people there are in the world. This is…

Photo credit: iStockphoto/stocknshares Blog

Last week, the death certificate of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II made international news. Such certificates rarely make the headlines, possibly with the notable exception of the discussions…

Photo credit: Hector Pertuz/AdobeStock Blog

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) released new estimates of excess mortality resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the work of a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) comprised of…

Photo credit: UN Photo; iStockPhoto/pixelfusion3d; iStockPhoto/trangiap; iStockPhoto/quangpraha Blog

Sustainability, inclusive development, diversity, resilience, to name a few, are terms and phrases often bandied about in the universe of discourse on international development. One that we hear a…

Photo credit: Lim Yong Tick / EyeEm Op-ed

The Asia-Pacific region is at a crossroads today – to further breakdown or breakthrough to a greener, better, safer future.

Since the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP…

Op-ed

2022 marks the second anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while an end to the pandemic is in sight, it is far from over and the consequences will be felt for decades to come. At the same time,…

Photo credit: iStock/Czgur Blog

Countries in North and Central Asia are increasingly trying to make their energy sectors greener and more sustainable. With stagnating economic growth and climate change on the horizon, countries are…

Blog

“My name is Ali. (…) I was not registered until I reached the age of 16, when I realized how important it is.  Without my birth certificate, I would have been deprived of my right to…

Photo credit: Plan Bangladesh Op-ed

Most countries in the Asia-Pacific region are on track to reach universal birth registration by 2030: an incredible achievement and a significant milestone in realizing human rights and equality…

Op-ed

Over the past two decades, the Asia-Pacific region has made remarkable progress in managing disaster risk. But countries can never let down their guard. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its epicentre now…

iStockphoto/Pavel Talashov Blog

North and Central Asia is on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7: affordable and clean energy, based on aggregated data for the whole subregion. However, general statistics may conceal…

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Danielrao Blog

From May 12-19, in the midst of the devastating second wave of the pandemic, the powerful Cyclone Tauktae struck India’s west coast and killed more than 100 people. This was the deadliest cyclone in…

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Doran J Clark Blog

In recent weeks, India’s second COVID-19 wave has been devastating, reaching world records for the total numbers of cases and deaths and overwhelming the healthcare system. On 8 May, India, for the…