The Little Data Book on Gender 2016 - World Bank.pdf

The Little Data Book on Gender 2016 is a quick reference for users interested in gender statistics. It presents sex-disaggregated data for more than 200 countries in a straightforward, country-by-country reference on education, health, access to economic opportunities, and public life and decision making. Summary pages that cover regional and income group aggregates are also included.

This fourth issue of The Little Data Book on Gender reflects the structure of the World Development Report 2012 on Gender Equality and Development. The report examined the driving forces behind differences in key aspects of welfare between men and women—education and health, access to economic opportunities and productive resources, and the ability to make effective choices and take action. Gender equality is increasingly recognized as not only a core development objective, but smart economics. Over the past decades, countries have seen significant progress to raise living standards and close gaps between males and females, including visible improvements in health and education. At the same time, critical gaps persist in economic opportunity as well as agency of women and girls. Addressing gender inequalities requires continued efforts to overcome a complex set of interrelated challenges linking gaps in human capital and technology,
women’s disproportionate responsibility for unpaid work, legal discrimination, and gender-based violence.

At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on September 25, 2015, world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The new agenda is based on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, including a stand-alone goal on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, as well as gender targets in other goals. With a new set of goals and targets, a long list of indicators will need to be monitored at different levels; both governments and development partners still need to address key data gaps by strengthening national capacities to systematically collect gender data.