As the last decade of the twentieth century approaches....

• Position: 1989 Report on the World Situation

"The world social situation, as the last decade of the twentieth century approaches, is profoundly different from that of a few decades ago, let alone at the beginning of the century',' states the 1989 Report on the World Social Situation. Poverty remains a major challenge to the world community. Pockets of social poverty persist in afl societies, but the greatest numbers of the absolutely poor in the world are in South Asia and subSaharan Africa. Following are some highlights from the report. * A changing family

The family, as a fundamental unit of society and the traditional source of support, socialization and care of family members, has undergone significant structural transformation over the last generation in many regions of the world. This has prompted widespread concern about the ability of the family to discharge its functions towards its members and society at large.

The extended family, which functioned well within the context of mostly agrarian societies, has been replaced by the nuclear family in more industrialized and urbanized societies. With the changes in the status of women, the nuclear family itself is changing substantially.

Households have become smaller and increasingly limited to core families rather than the extended families of the past.

The number in single-parent family and female heads of household has increased. * Women: a long way to go

The situation of women varies greatly among countries. In developed countries, there has been considerable progress in increasing the participation of women in the labour force, but the wages earned and the responsibilities handled by men and women remain very different.

In developing countries, women have sometimes found new employment opportunities, but in countries that have suffered economic setbacks they have often been forced back into jobs with lower status and pay. Women still do not have equal access to education; * Plenty of food, unequally distributed

During the past three or four decades, food supplies have increased considerably, famine has been reduced and nutritional levels raised. Despite these achievements, however, hunger and malnutrition continue to be a world-wide problem. And the situation has deteriorated in many developing countries during the past five years.

The global supply of food, if equally distributed, would provide adequate nutrition for all. But food supplies are not distributed equally among consumers. There are disparities among developed and...