The State of the World’s Children calls for   brave and fresh thinking to address age-old problems that still affect the most disadvantaged children. In particular, the report calls for innovation – and for the best and brightest solutions coming from communities to be taken to scale to benefit every child.

Interpersonal violence – in all its forms – has a grave effect on children: violence undermines children's future potential; damages their physical, psychological and emotional well-being; and in many cases, ends their lives. The report sheds light on the prevalence of different forms of violence against children.

The report highlights the critical role data and monitoring play in realizing children’s rights. Credible data, disseminated effectively and used correctly, make it possible to target interventions that help right the wrong of exclusion. Data do not, in and of themselves, change the world. They make change possible – by identifying needs, supporting advocacy, gauging progress and holding duty bearers to account. Making what’s possible real is up to decision-makers.

The purpose of this handbook is to provide national human right institutions with tools and guidance on how to integrate reproductive rights into their work.

Every day in developing countries, 20,000 girls below age 18 give birth. Nine in 10 of these births occur within marriage or a union. This has consequences on the health, education, employment and rights of an untold millions of girls. What are the challenges of adolescent pregnancy, and what can we do to ensure girls have a healthy and safe transition into adulthood?

This report illustrates initiatives that have engaged men and boys in the promotion of gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. The report presents lessons learned in the areas of evidence and data on engaging men and boys; research and tools for working with men and boys; advocacy and partnership building; support at policy and institutional levels; and engaging men and boys at the community and individual levels.

The State of World Population 2012 explains why family planning is a right, examines the challenges in ensuring that all women, men and young people are able to exercise that right and suggests actions that governments and international organizations can take to give everyone the power and the means to decide freely and responsibly how many children to have and when to have them.

This collaborative working paper discusses hidden dimensions of urban poverty, and the different ways in which they impact men and women. This gender perspective supports a broader understanding of urban poverty that stretches beyond income to include domestic and care responsibilities, dependency and powerlessness.

This report is a clarion call to decision-makers, parents, communities and to the world to end child marriage. It documents the current scope, prevalence and inequities associated with child marriage and highlights that by 2020, some 142 million girls will be married by their eighteenth birthday if current trends continue.

This document provides a conceptual overview of the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of promoting gender equality, as well as guidance on concrete steps to be undertaken across all medium-term strategic plan focus areas and throughout the programme cycle to promote equality between girls and boys, as well as between women and men.

This report examines a number of success stories in the fight against HIV. Examples come from countries such as Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Nigeria and the Caribbean region.

Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5, Target 5A calls for the reduction of maternal mortality ratio by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015. As part of on-going efforts,  World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank revised and improved earlier methods to estimate maternal mortality in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2008; and developed methodology to present trends in maternal mortality from 1990 to 2008 at country, regional, and levels.

The release of the 2010 edition of the State of World Population report coincides with the tenth anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325, which recognizes and seeks to address the vulnerability of women and girls to violence during and after armed conflict, and the absence or low level of women’s representation in efforts to prevent war, build peace and restore devastated societies.

Conceptual and practical information on engaging men and boys in romoting gender equality and health are presented. Specific topics include sexual and reproductive health; maternal, newborn and child health; fatherhood; HIV and AIDS prevention, care and support; and prevention of gender-based violence.

The report argues that reproductive health care, including family planning, and gender relations could influence the future course of climate change and affect how humanity adapts to rising seas, worsening storms and severe droughts. Women, especially impoverished women in developing countries, bear the disproportionate burden of climate change, but have so far been overlooked in the debate about how to address problems of climate change, the report concludes.

This is the second volume in a series that documents best practices in preventing and responding to violence against women. These eight case studies feature initiatives from Algeria, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, implemented by governments and other partners with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Development strategies should be more culturally sensitive to the promotion of human rights, especially women's rights, theUnited Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) annual report 2008-2009 finds, warning that otherwise many projects in poor countries are likely to fail.

By 2030, towns and cities will be home to almost 5 billion people. The urban population of Africa and Asia will double in less than a generation. This unprecedented shift could enhance development and promote sustainability – or it could deepen poverty and accelerate environmental degradation. Women's empowerment and well-being are the pillars of sustainable cities.

This volume documents United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)'s experience addressing many forms of violence against women. Intended primarily for development practitioners and others seeking to change attitudes and practices, it offers lessons that can help scale-up responses. Projects in Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Romania, Sierra Leone and Turkey are discussed.

Each year, UNICEF's flagship publication, The State of the World's Children, closely examines a key issue affecting children. The report includes supporting data and statistics and is available in French and Spanish language versions.