En países latinoamericanos, la población crece a un ritmo mayor que el promedio mundial, lo cual intensifica el uso de la tierra y aumenta la urbanización. La región también es propensa a los impactos negativos del cambio climático y de los desastres naturales.

OECD countries are intensifying their fiscal consolidation efforts, introducing additional measures and extending the time horizon to implement them. Most have announced fiscal consolidation of more than 3% of GDP over the period 2009-15, according to the OECD’s Restoring Public Finances 2012.

In Latin American and Caribbean countries the population is growing faster than the world average, intensifying land use and increasing urbanisation. The region is also prone to the negative impact of climate change and natural disasters, putting further pressure on natural resources.

Worldwide, 62 billion tons of natural resources – minerals, wood, metals, fossil and biomass fuels, and construction material – are extracted. On average, that’s almost 10 tons for every person on the earth. Of that, about one fifth ends up as waste and must be reused, recycled or disposed of in a way that is safe for people and the environment.

Though the rate of public spending on healthcare in the Asia/Pacific region is still well below the OECD average, countries there are committing more resources to improving health care quality.

The OECD offers impartial data and evidence-based policy advice on scaling-up climate finance, and incentivising green infrastructure investment and low-carbon technologies.

The global economy is expected to make a hesitant and uneven recovery over the coming two years. Decisive policy action is needed to ensure that stalemate over fiscal policy in the United States and continuing euro area instability do not plunge the world back into recession, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.

Spain is immersed in a prolonged recession that has been compounded by the continuing crisis in the euro area. The path to recovery has been launched, but will require full implementation of reforms and some additional measures to restore confidence in the financial sector, redress public finances and bring down high unemployment, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Spain.

OECD countries have made much progress over the past decade in helping immigrants integrate in society. But much remains to be done, notably in improving how well immigrant children do at school and in finding work, and in immigrant women’s access to employment, according to a new OECD report.

Luxembourg allocated 0.97% of its gross national income, or USD 413 million, to official development assistance in 2011.“Luxembourg is the Development Assistance Committee’ s third most generous donor as a portion of its economy – after Sweden and Norway – and it has a high quality programme” says Brian Atwood, Chair of the DAC. “We commend Luxembourg’s commitment to keeping its ODA at 1% of GNI until 2014”.