Commonwealth population in numbers

The CIS Interstate Statistical Committee in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released booklets “Youth in the Commonwealth of Independent States” and “Population of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Sustainable Development Goals” in Russian and English.

The booklet “Population of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Sustainable Development Goals” states that SDGs aim at addressing inequality, ensuring health protection, reduction of children and maternal mortality, increasing life expectancy, increasing access to quality education, achieving gender equality and improving the quality of life of the population; and are high on the Commonwealth agenda. The objectives were defined in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) and included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015.

According to the booklet, the Commonwealth achieved significant positive results in healthcare, education, raising level and quality of people's life. At the same time, a range of issues related to ensuring access to essential services, quality of the living environment, achieving gender equality in the labor market, implementation of national support programs for people in difficult situations (including the poor, disabled and migrants), remain unresolved.

The booklet “Youth in the Commonwealth of Independent States” provides a statistical portrait of the Commonwealth youth and stresses the importance of ensuring wider youth participation in decision-making process on the issues of their interest. According to the CIS Interstate Statistical Committee, MPs under 35 years old constitute 7% of the total number of the Commonwealth legislators in the national single-seat parliaments and lower chambers of parliaments.