Yearbook of the United Nations, 2003. Part 3, Economic and social questions. Chapter 8, Population

Abstract

In 2003, the world's population reached 6.3 billion. The population activities of the United Nations continued to be guided by the Programme of Action adopted at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the key actions for its further implementation adopted at the twenty-first special session of the General Assembly in 1999. In December, the Assembly decided to devote one day during its fifty-ninth (2004) session to the commemoration of ICPD's tenth anniversary. It also decided to devote a high-level dialogue to international migration and development in 2006. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the largest internationally funded source of population assistance, was the lead UN organization for advancing the ICPD Programme of Action. It continued its work in reproductive health, HIV/ AIDS, adolescent and youth needs, humanitarian assistance and partnership brokering. In 2003, UNFPA's donor base grew to 151, comprising 149 donor Governments, the Mars Trust and the grass-roots campaign, the “34 Million Friends”. The Fund's income from all sources increased to $397.9 million from $373.2 million in 2002 and programme expenditure decreased to $380 million from $410.1 million in 2002. The Commission on Population and Development, at its thirty-sixth session, considered the central theme of population, education and development, and adopted a resolution on the subject. Other matters discussed by the Commission included financial resources to implement the ICPD Programme of Action, world population monitoring and the activities of the UN Population Division. New publications of the Population Division included the World Fertility Report 2003 and World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision.