UN Development Account Project

Since 2023, within the framework of the United Nations Development Account (15th Tranche), CELADE, Population Division of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), has been implementing the project Inclusive and sustainable economic growth in a society for all ages in the post-COVID-19 era in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. The project aims to enhance the capacity of governments in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America and Caribbean regions to develop evidence-based, intergenerational policies for inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the context of population ageing. Utilizing disaggregated National Accounts data, the project addresses the goals of inclusion and sustainability through National Inclusion Accounts (NIAs), which disaggregate economic statistics by age and socioeconomic status to describe resource distribution among population groups. This type of accounting is needed for long-term forecasts of the costs and funding sources for social protection, education, and health care programmes to ensure their fiscal sustainability and distributional equity.

In the region, the target countries are Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Uruguay. In 2024, a NIAs manual was developed and virtual workshops were conducted. Additionally, the ALAP school took place during the XI Congress of the Latin American Population Association in Bogota, Colombia. In 2025, workshops for government officials will be organized and the NIAs by educational level, income quintiles, and household structure will be developed. A policy brief based on the results will also be published, and a regional meeting on the use of NIAs will be held at ECLAC. During 2026, communication and e-learning materials will be produced.