Food and Agriculture OrganizationFor your convenience we have included URLs (web addresses) for organizations that maintain websites. The addresses shown were active on 15 March 1997. If your computer is linked to the Internet, you can access the highlighted links by clicking on the address. Please note that the WDI web browser does not support Frames or some more advanced HTML commands.
Visit the World Bank website at http://www.worldbank.org.
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was founded in October 1945 with a mandate to raise nutrition levels and living standards, to improve agricultural productivity, and to better the condition of rural populations. Since its inception the FAO has worked to alleviate poverty and hunger by promoting agricultural development, improved nutrition, and the pursuit of food security—the access of all people at all times to the food they need for an active and healthy life. The organization provides direct development assistance; collects, analyzes, and disseminates information; offers policy and planning advice to governments; and serves as an international forum for debate on food and agricultural issues.
Statistical publications of the FAO include the Production Yearbook, Trade Yearbook, and Fertilizer Yearbook. The FAO makes much of its data available on diskette through its Agrostat PC system.
FAO publications can be ordered from national sales agents or directly from the FAO Distribution and Sales Section, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. Website: http://www.fao.org/default.htm.
International Civil Aviation Organization
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, was founded with the signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation on December 7, 1944. It is responsible for establishing international standards and recommended practices and procedures for the technical, economic, and legal aspects of international civil aviation operations.
The ICAO promotes the adoption of safety measures, establishes visual and instrument flight rules for pilots and crews, develops aeronautical charts, coordinates aircraft radio frequencies, and sets uniform regulations for the operation of air services and customs procedures. The ICAO’s membership consists of 185 countries.
To obtain ICAO publications contact ICAO, Document Sales Unit, 999 University Street, Montreal, Quebec H3C 5H7, Canada; telephone: (514) 954 8022; fax: (514) 954 6769; email: sales_unit@icao.org; Website: http://www.cam.org/~icao.
International Labour Organisation
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is the United Nations specialized agency that seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights. Founded in 1919, it is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles, which brought the League of Nations into being. It became the first specialized agency of the United Nations in 1946. The ILO has a structure that is unique within the United Nations system, a tripartite structure that has workers and employers participating as equal partners with governments in the work of its governing organs. As part of its mandate, the ILO maintains an extensive statistical publication program. Its most comprehensive collection of labor force statistics is the Yearbook of Labour Statistics.
Publications can be ordered from the International Labour Office, 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or from sales agents and major booksellers throughout the world and ILO offices in many countries. Fax: (41 22) 798 86 85; Website: http://www.ilo.org/.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established at a conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, U.S.A., on July 1–22, 1944, a conference that also established the World Bank. The IMF came into official existence on December 27, 1945, when representatives of 29 countries signed its articles of agreement. The IMF commenced financial operations on March 1, 1947. It currently has 181 member countries.
The statutory purposes of the IMF are to promote international monetary cooperation, to facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade, to promote exchange rate stability, to assist in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments, to make the general resources of the Fund temporarily available to its members under adequate safeguards, and to shorten the duration and lessen the degree of disequilibrium in the international balances of payments of members.
In furtherance of its purposes the IMF maintains an extensive program for the development and compilation of international statistics. The IMF is responsible for collecting and reporting statistics on international financial transactions and the balance of payments. In April 1996 it undertook an important initiative aimed at improving the quality of international statistics, establishing the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) to guide members that have or seek access to international capital markets in providing economic and financial data to the public.
Major statistical publications of the IMF include International Financial Statistics, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook, Government Finance Statistics Yearbook, and Direction of Trade Statistics.
For more information on IMF statistical publications contact International Monetary Fund, Publications Services, Catalog Orders, 700 19th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20431, U.S.A.; telephone: (202) 623 7430; fax: (202) 623 7201; telex: RCA 248331 IMF UR; email: pubweb@imf.org; Website: http://www.imf.org; SDDS bulletin board: http://dsbb.imf.org.
International Telecommunication Union
Founded in Paris in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) took its present name in 1934 and became a specialized agency of the United Nations in 1947.
The ITU is an intergovernmental organization within which the public and private sectors cooperate for the development of telecommunications. The ITU adopts international regulations and treaties governing all terrestrial and space uses of the frequency spectrum and the use of the geostationary-satellite orbit. It also develops standards for the interconnection of telecommunications systems worldwide. The ITU fosters the development of telecommunications in developing countries by establishing medium-term development policies and strategies in consultation with other partners in the sector and providing specialized technical assistance in management, telecommunications policy, human resource management, research and development, technology choice and transfer, network installation and maintenance, and investment financing and resource mobilization.
The major statistical publication of the ITU is the Telecommunications Yearbook.
Publications can be ordered from ITU Sales and Marketing Service, Place des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland; telephone: (41 22) 730 6141 (English), (41 22) 730 6142 (French), and (41 22) 730 6143 (Spanish); fax: (41 22) 730 5194; email (Internet): sales.online@itu.ch and (X.400): S=sales; P=itu; A=400net; C=ch; telex: 421 000 uit ch; telegram: ITU GENEVE. Website: http://www.itu.ch/.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was originally set up in 1948 as the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) to administer Marshall Plan funding on the European side. In 1960, when the Marshall Plan had completed its task, the member countries agreed to bring in the United States and Canada to form an organization to coordinate policy among the Western industrial countries.
The OECD is the international organization of the industrialized, market economy countries. At OECD, representatives from member countries meet to exchange information and harmonize policy with a view to maximizing economic growth in member countries and helping nonmember countries develop more rapidly. The present members of the OECD are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Membership for the Slovak Republic is under consideration.
Associated with the OECD are several agencies or bodies that have their own governing statutes, including the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Centre for Cooperation with the Economies in Transition.
To further its aims, the OECD has set up a number of specialized committees. One of these is the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), whose members have agreed to coordinate their policies on assistance to developing countries and economies in transition.
Major statistical publications of the OECD include National Accounts of OECD Countries, Labour Force Statistics, Revenue Statistics of OECD Member Countries, International Direct Investment Statistics Yearbook, Basic Science and Technology Statistics, Industrial Structure Statistics, and Services: Statistics on International Transactions.
The OECD operates five publications and information centers: in Bonn, Mexico D.F, Paris, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. These centers promote OECD publications and documents nationally and make them available to a large public. The OECD designates a depository library in every country, usually the national library, and supplies it with free copies of publications and working documents.
For information on OECD publications contact OECD, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France; telephone: (33 1) 45 24 82 00; fax: (33 1) 45 24 85 00; Websites: http://www.oecd.org and http://www.oecdwash.org.
The United Nations and its specialized agencies maintain a number of programs for the collection of international statistics, some of which are described elsewhere in this book. At United Nations headquarters the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis provides a wide range of statistical outputs and services for producers and users of statistics worldwide. By increasing the global availability and use of official statistics, the division’s work facilitates national and international policy formulation, implementation, and monitoring.
The Statistics Division publishes statistics in the fields of international trade, national accounts, demography and population, gender, industry, energy, environment, human settlements, and disability. Major statistical publications of the Statistics Division include the International Trade Statistics Yearbook, the Yearbook of National Accounts, and the Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, along with general statistics compendiums such as the Statistical Yearbook and World Statistics Pocketbook.
For publications contact the United Nations Sales Section, DC2-0853, New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A.; fax: (212) 963 3489; email: statistics@un.org; Website: http://www.un.org.
United Nations Children’s Fund
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the only organization of the United Nations dedicated exclusively to children, works with other United Nations bodies and with governments and nongovernmental organizations to improve children’s lives in more than 140 developing countries through community-based services in primary health care, basic education, and safe water and sanitation. According to its mission statement, adopted in 1996, UNICEF "is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behavior towards children."
Major publications of UNICEF include The State of the World’s Children and The Progress of Nations. UNICEF publications are available through UNICEF field offices in developing countries and through UNICEF national committees in industrial countries. Many UNICEF publications are also available on the Internet.
For information on UNICEF publications contact UNICEF House, 3 United Nations Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A.; telephone: (212) 326 7000; fax: (212) 888 7465; telex: RCA-239521; Website: http://www.unicef.org.
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is the principal organ of the United Nations General Assembly in the field of trade and development. It was established as a permanent intergovernmental body in 1964 in Geneva with a view to accelerating economic growth and development, particularly in developing countries. UNCTAD discharges its mandate through policy analysis; intergovernmental deliberations, consensus building, and negotiation; monitoring, implementation, and follow-up; and technical cooperation. UNCTAD’s 188 member governments aim to achieve steady, sustained growth in all countries and to accelerate the development of developing countries, so that all people can enjoy economic and social well-being.
UNCTAD has a major program of publications in trade and economic statistics, including the Handbook of International Trade and Development Statistics.
For information contact UNCTAD, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland; telephone: (41 22) 907 12 34 or 917 12 34; fax: (41 22) 907 00 57; telex: 42962; Website: http://www.unicc.org/unctad.
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945 to promote aims set out in the United Nations charter: "to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law, and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms . . . for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language, or religion . . ."
The principal statistical publications of UNESCO are the Statistical Yearbook, World Education Report (biennial), and Basic Education and Literacy: World Statistical Indicators.
For publications contact UNESCO Publishing, Promotion, and Sales Division, 1, rue Miollis F, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France; fax: (33 1) 45 68 57 41; email: c.laje@unesco.org; Website: http://www.unesco.org.
United Nations Environment Programme
The mandate of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and people to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. The UNEP was established as the environmental conscience of the United Nations system and has been creating a basis for comprehensive consideration and coordinated action within the United Nations on the problems of the human environment.
UNEP publications include Global Environment Outlook and Our Planet (a bimonthly magazine).
For information contact UNEP, P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya; telephone: (254 2) 62 1234 or 3292; fax: (254 2) 62 3927 or 3692; Website: http://www.unep.org.
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) was established in 1966 by the General Assembly to act as the central coordinating body for industrial activities within the United Nations system and to promote industrial development and cooperation at global, regional, national, and sectoral levels. In 1985 UNIDO became the sixteenth specialized agency of the United Nations. As the youngest such agency, it was given a mandate that recognizes the economic realities of industrial development in today’s world. UNIDO’s constitution calls for the organization to assist in development, scientific, and technological plans and programs for industrialization in the public, cooperative, and private sectors.
UNIDO’s databases and information services include the Industrial Statistics Database (INDSTAT), Commodity Balance Statistics Database (COMBAL), Industrial Development Abstracts (IDA), and the International Referral System on Sources of Information. Among its publications is the International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics.
For information contact UNIDO Public Information Section, Vienna International Centre, P.O. Box 300, A-1400 Vienna, Austria; telephone: (43 1) 211 31 5021 or 5022; fax: (43 1) 209 2669; email: unido-pinfo@unido.org; Website: http://www.unido.org.
The constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) was adopted on July 22, 1946, by the International Health Conference, convened in New York by the Economic and Social Council. The WHO’s objective is the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health, defined as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
In support of its main objective, the WHO carries out a wide range of functions, including coordinating international health work; helping governments strengthen health services; furnishing technical assistance and emergency aid; working for the prevention and control of disease; promoting improved nutrition, housing, sanitation, recreation, and economic and working conditions; promoting and coordinating biomedical and health services research; promoting improved standards of teaching and training in health and medical professions; establishing international standards for biological, pharmaceutical, and similar products; and standardizing diagnostic procedures.
The WHO publishes the World Health Statistics Annual and many other technical and statistical publications.
For publications contact Distribution and Sales (DSA), Division of Publishing, Language, and Library Services, World Health Organization Headquarters, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland; telephone: (41 22) 791 2476 or 2477; fax: (41 22) 791 4857; email: publications@who.ch; Website: http://www.who.ch.
The World Trade Organization (WTO), established on January 1, 1995, is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It is now the legal and institutional foundation of the multilateral trading system and embodies the results of the Uruguay Round trade negotiations concluded with the Marrakesh Declaration of April 15, 1994.
The essential functions of the WTO are administering and implementing the multilateral trade agreements that make up the WTO, serving as a forum for multilateral trade negotiations, seeking to resolve trade disputes, overseeing national trade policies, and cooperating with other international institutions involved in global economic policymaking.
The Statistics and Information Systems Divisions of the WTO compile statistics on world trade and maintain the Integrated Database, which contains the basic records of the outcome of the Uruguay Round. The WTO Annual Report includes a statistical appendix.
For publications contact World Trade Organization, Publications Services, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland; telephone: (41 22) 739 5208 or 5308; fax: (41 22) 739 5458; email: publications@wto.org; Website: http://www.wto.org.
