The Population Policy Section is responsible for global monitoring of Government views and policies on key population issues, such as population size and growth, fertility and family planning, population ageing, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, spatial distribution and urbanization, and international migration. Monitoring of Government views and policies on population issues is important in tracking progress in the implementation of the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, and other internationally agreed development goals that are related to population, including the Millennium Development Goals.
The Policy Section is also responsible for implementing the United Nations Inquiry among Governments on Population and Development, set-up in 1963 at the request of the Commission on Population and Development. Between 1963 and 2012, the Secretary General has conducted ten rounds of the Inquiry. The Inquiries have been a unique and invaluable research tool in monitoring national population policies. The Eleventh United Nations Inquiry among Governments on Population and Development will be launched in Fall 2013.
The Policy Section has built and maintains a comprehensive, global Population Policies Database, going back to the mid-1970s.
The flagship publication of the Policy Section is World Population Policies, a recurrent biennial publication. The publication contains the most comprehensive and up-to-date information available on the population policy situation and trends for all Member States and non-member States of the United Nations. The 2011 World Population Policies report presents information on a total of 42 policy variables, with special attention to international migration issues in light of the forty-sixth session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development, whose special theme is “New Trends in Migration: Demographic Aspects”, as well as the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development during the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly in 2013.