The World's Women 2010

Department of Economic and Social Affairs

ST/ESA/STAT/SER.K/19

The World's Women 2010

Trends and Statistics

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United Nations New York, 2010

Department of Economic and Social Affairs

The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it compiles, generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environmental data and information on which States Members of the United Nations draw to review common problems and take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses of action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges; and (iii) it advises interested Governments on the ways and means of translating policy frameworks developed in United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national capacities.

Note The designations employed and the presentation of material in the present report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The term "country" as used in the text of this report also refers, as appropriate, to territories or areas. The designations "developed" and "developing" countries or areas and "more developed" and "less developed" regions are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Symbols of the United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures.

ST/ESA/STAT/SER.K/19 United Nations publication Sales No. E.10.XVII.11 ISBN 978-92-1-161539-5 Copyright?United Nations, 2010 All rights reserved

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Message from the Secretary-General

The United Nations occupies a unique position as a global storehouse of statistical information on social and economic phenomena. Numerical profiles of women and men and their status in societies are systematically collected, compiled, processed and analyzed, providing an authoritative basis for sound policymaking at all levels ? national, regional and international. The World's Women: Trends and Statistics was first published by the United Nations in 1991. A new edition has been issued every five years since 1995, as called for specifically in the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at that year's landmark Fourth World Conference on Women. With coverage encompassing the full range of issues and concerns, it is the only publication of its kind. The World's Women 2010 is intended to contribute to the stocktaking being done to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the Beijing Conference. It addresses critical aspects of life: population, families, health, education, work, power and decision-making, violence against women, environment and poverty. It finds that progress in ensuring the equal status of women and men has been made in many areas, including school enrolment, health and economic participation. At the same time, it makes clear that much more needs to be done, in particular to close the gender gap in public life and to prevent the many forms of violence to which women are subjected. It is my hope that the insights and information contained in the present publication will help Governments, researchers, scholars, non-governmental organizations and concerned citizens around the world in their efforts to ensure that every single woman achieves her full potential.

Ban Ki-Moon

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Preface

The Beijing Platform for Action ? the pre-eminent international guideline for improving the status of women ? lists, among others, specific activities related to increased availability of sexdisaggregated data. It was expected that these activities would start showing results with the passage of time. Indeed, in some areas of statistics, we are witnessing an increased stock of available statistics, such as on work and education. However, the availability of gender statistics is still sporadic and weak in many countries and areas of the world, thus limiting the comprehensive statistical analysis of social phenomena and the status of women and men. The conceptual approach of The World's Women 2010: Trends and Statistics is in line with those published since 1991 ? to present and analyse statistics on the status of women. It highlights the differences between the status of women and men in various areas of contemporary life; statistics on men figure as prominently as statistics on women. Eight key areas are covered: population and families, health, education, work, power and decisionmaking, violence against women, environment and poverty. In each of these areas, statistics were identified, compiled, processed and analyzed, bringing to light findings on the differences between the status of girls and boys, women and men. All efforts were made to make these findings easy to interpret, with the extensive use of graphical presentation and non-technical language. The World's Women 2010 is accompanied by a comprehensive website hosted by the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The website displays the full range of statistics used for preparing the present publication, as well as links to numerous sources of gender statistics and references to international, regional and national compilations of relevant data. It is my hope that the present publication will be used to advance an enabling social and economic environment that will ensure equal treatment of all women and men and significantly improve the status of women in the world. It should also serve as a model for similar statistical profiles for countries, areas, regions and provinces, thus supporting the development of policies to implement a basic United Nations principle: gender equality.

Sha Zukang Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs

Prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division

Paul Cheung, Director

Editors Srdjan Mrki, Editor-in-Chief Tina Johnson Michael Rose

Drafting team ? United Nations Statistics Division Ionica Berevoescu Mar?a Isabel Cobos Hern?ndez Erlinda Go Linda Hooper Srdjan Mrki Keiko Osaki Tomita Seiffe Tadesse

Contributors Bosiljka Djikanovic Athena Tapales Joann Vanek Macro International International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, International Labour Office UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Reviewers Denise Brown, Principal Statistician, Statistics New Zealand Jean-Michel Durr, Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Keiko Osaki Tomita, Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations UNESCO Institute for Statistics Department of Statistics, International Labor Office United Nations Environmental Programme World Health Organization

Research and technical assistance Xinli An, Haoyi Chen, Lisa Morrison-Puckett, Vysaul Nyirongo, Tillie Peacock, Awet Segid, Patricia Tito

Design and typesetting Cover Graphic Design Unit, Outreach Division, Department of Public Information Interior Content Design Unit, Copy Preparation and Proofreading Section, Department for General Assembly and Conference Management

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Executive summary

In the Beijing Declaration adopted in 1995 by the Fourth World Conference on Women, participating Governments expressed their commitment "to advance the goals of equality, development and peace for all women everywhere in the interest of humanity". To assess whether these goals are being achieved, The World's Women is produced by the United Nations every five years, as called for in the Beijing Platform for Action. The World's Women 2010: Trends and Statistics presents statistics and analysis on the status of women and men in the world, highlighting the current situation and changes over time. Analyses are based mainly on statistics from international and national statistical agencies. The report covers several broad policy areas ? population and families, health, education, work, power and decision-making, violence against women, environment and poverty. The main findings are summarized below.

General population patterns, families In today's world, there are 57 million more men than women. This surplus of men is concentrated in the youngest age groups and steadily diminishes until it disappears at about age 50, thereafter becoming a surplus of women owing to their longer life expectancy. A surplus of men characterizes the world's most populous countries ? China and India ? hence the large surplus of men worldwide. In most other countries, there are more women than men. The surplus of women in older age groups is significant and is increasing, with obvious implications for health care and other social needs. People are marrying at older ages than in the past ? especially women. In Europe, the average age at which women first marry is 30 or older in many countries. In some less developed countries, however, such as Mali, Niger and several other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the average age at which women first marry is still below 20. As family-building often starts with a marriage, the consequences for fertility is obvious. Globally, fertility declined to 2.5 births per woman, but women who bear more than five children are still common in countries where women marry early. Early marriage and high fertility limit such women's opportunities for education and employment and can severely diminish their chances for advancement in life. Once constituted, maintaining families and caring for family members lies primarily on the shoulders of women, who spend, on average, more working hours per day than men.

Health In all regions, women live longer than men. However, social, cultural and economic factors can affect the natural advantage of women compared to men. For example, in developing countries

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The World's Women 2010

where pregnancy and childbirth can be life-threatening, women's exposure to risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth tend to equalize life expectancies between the sexes; whereas in developed countries, the adoption of unhealthy behaviours by women, such as smoking and drinking, can also equalize life expectancy. The data reveal that, globally, non-communicable diseases are already the most important causes of death for both men and women.

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that relate to health is important for improving the quality of life of all people. The past decades saw considerable reductions in child mortality worldwide, which is one of the eight MDGs. However, Africa continues to have high rates of child mortality despite intensified efforts to reduce it. Another MDG is to improve maternal health. Access to prenatal care and birth delivery attendance by skilled health personnel are essential to achieving this goal. Findings show there have been increases in the proportion of women receiving prenatal care but much still needs to be improved.

The Beijing Platform for Action recognized that social and cultural factors often increase women's vulnerability to HIV and may determine the course that the infection takes in their lives. Recent data show that in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, women account for more than half of people living with HIV/AIDS. The toll exacted by HIV/AIDS on the lives of women extends beyond their physical health to the families and communities that depend on them.

Education

There is progress ? albeit slow and uneven ? in the literacy status of adult women and men around the world. However, reflecting the persistent disadvantages they face, women account for two thirds of the world's 774 million adult illiterates ? a proportion that is unchanged over the past two decades. Gender disparities in adult literacy rates remain wide in most regions of the world. However, there is a reason to look toward future decades with optimism as improvement in access to education eventually raises literacy levels. In almost all countries, literacy rates for the young are higher than those for adults. The vast majority of young people in the world are literate and improvements in youth literacy rates have been accompanied by declining gender disparities.

Primary enrolment of girls and boys is increasing across the world. Outstanding gains have been registered in several less developed regions of the world, particularly Africa and South-Central Asia. Yet several countries in these regions are still far from attaining universal primary education. Measurable progress has been made towards greater gender parity in primary enrolment, with gender gaps diminishing in most regions of the world. Positive global trends in primary enrolment, however, obscure uneven progress and some slippage or stagnation. While the overall progress in primary education in the past decade is encouraging, major barriers stand in the way of progress: 72 million children ? 54 per cent of them girls ? are out of school. The evidence indicates that much remains to be done to keep the world on track to meet the goal of universal primary education.

There is increased participation in secondary education. However, progress in secondary enrolment lags behind that in primary education. Compared to participation at the primary level, a

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