World water week provides a unique forum for the exchange of views, experiences and practices between the scientific, business, policy and civic communities.

Secretary-General Angel Gurría launched the 2012 Development Co-operation Report “Lessons in linking sustainability and development” at the 48th High Level Meeting of the Development Assistance Committee in London.

This paper provides an update on recent developments in the field of Regional Trade Agreements and the environment. Issues arising in the implementation of RTAs with environmental considerations are examined as well as experience in assessing their environmental impacts.

The second Forum – 3GF2012 – will be held in Denmark on 8-9 October 2012 under the thematic headline “Resource Efficiency and Growth”.

Noted actors in development share their views on what progress has been made from the past 50 years, the remaining challenges and the way toward a more efficient future in development.

Secretary-General Angel Gurría launched the 2012 Development Co-operation Report “Lessons in linking sustainability and development” at the 48th High Level Meeting of the Development Assistance Committee in London.

This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

The German labour market recovered very quickly from the 2008-09 economic crisis and unemployment continued its long-run structural decline in 2010 and 2011.

Education at a Glance 2012: Country Notes - Germany

The Secretary-General met with Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Heads of International Organisations to discuss the global economic outlook as well as policies to boost growth and employment in Europe.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. To date, students representing more than 70 economies have participated in the assessment.

Note summarising the performance of German 15-year-old students in the PISA 2012 assessment of problem solving.

Australia’s labour market continues to perform well in comparison with other major developed countries. The unemployment rate, at 5.1% in May 2012, is among the lowest in the OECD.

The recovery of the Canadian labour market is well under way. The unemployment rate (ILO definition) fell by more than one percentage point to 7.2% in June 2012, since peaking at 8.5% in the third quarter of 2009.

La faiblesse de la reprise économique n’a pas permis d’endiguer la hausse du chômage en France. Les Perspectives de l’emploi 2012 de l’OCDE indiquent que le taux de chômage est passé de 7.5 % à son point bas en février 2008 à 10.1 % en mai 2012.

The German labour market recovered very quickly from the 2008-09 economic crisis and unemployment continued its long-run structural decline in 2010 and 2011.

Italy has been hit hard by the crisis and unemployment may rise further. The recent recession hit the Italian economy hard with the country experiencing a large fall in GDP at the height of the crisis in 2009

The labour market recovery in Japan began strongly but has weakened since.

The Korean labour market continues to perform well after a quick recovery from the global economic crisis. Korea’s unemployment rate was 3.2% in May 2012, 0.2% point lower than a year earlier, and nearly down to its pre-crisis level of 3.1%.

Mexico has experienced a stronger economic recovery than most other OECD countries accompanied by strong employment growth.

Despite some decline in the number of registered unemployed in June, high levels of unemployment in Spain are set to persist in the short-run, given its weak economic growth prospects.

The UK economy has been broadly flat over the past two years. Employment has risen slightly, while the unemployment rate has stayed close to 8%. Projections in the 2012 OECD Employment Outlook foresee some increase in the unemployment rate that could even reach 9% in 2013.

The US labour market continues its slow recovery from the 2008-09 recession, but the unemployment rate remains significantly higher than before the financial crisis

Join around 500 higher education policy-makers, institutional leaders and academic experts active in higher education at the biennial General Conference of the OECD’s Programme for Institutional Management in Higher Education on 17-19 September in Paris.

The relative earnings premium for those with a tertiary education increased in most EU21 countries over the past ten years, indicating that the demand for more educated individuals still exceeds supply.

L’école maternelle est ouverte au plus grand nombre en France malgré un investissement par élève moindre par rapport à la moyenne des pays de l’OCDE, ce qui se traduit par un taux d’encadrement (enseignants et auxiliaires d’éducation confondus) plus élevé en France que dans la plupart des pays de l’OCDE.

Germany’s early childhood education system is fairly well-developed: 96% of four-year-olds are enrolled in early childhood education programmes, and 89% of three-year-olds are. These levels are well above the respective OECD averages of 79% and 66%.

Although the salaries of experienced teachers in Japan are high relative to other OECD countries, their starting salaries are lower and working hours are longer. Moreover, different from the trend across OECD countries, teachers’ salaries have been declining since 2000 in real terms.

Virtually all three-year-olds in Spain are enrolled in school, most of them in public institutions. Spain’s expenditure on pre-primary education (for public institutions) amounts to 0.9% of GDP, compared to the OECD average of 0.5% of the combined GDP.

Education at a Glance 2012: Country Notes - United Kingdom

Education at a Glance 2012: Country Notes - United States

Education at a Glance 2012 - Country Note for Germany (german)

Australia’s education system achieves good outcomes overall - attainment of upper secondary education by adults aged 25 to 34 was 85% in 2010, above the OECD average of 82%

Canada ranks first among OECD countries in the proportion of adults with a college (tertiary-type 5B) education (24%) and ranks 8th in the proportion of adults with a university (tertiary-type 5A) education (26%).

Entry rates for higher education increased after Italy introduced a new degree structure in the early 2000s. While university-level attainment still remains below the OECD average, the gap for younger generations of Italians is expected to narrow over the next decade.

Since making pre-primary education compulsory in 2009, Mexico has achieved one of the highest enrolment rates of four-year-old children among OECD countries, but high student-teacher ratios pose significant challenges for early childhood education and care.

Education at a Glance 2012: Country Notes - Portugal

The high educational attainment level of the Russian population continues to increase. 88% of the adult population have attained at least upper secondary education and 54% have a tertiary qualification.

Education at a Glance 2012: Country Notes - Spain (Spanish)

Sweden enjoys an 81.5% employment rate for all levels of education – the second highest rate of all OECD countries after Iceland (Table A7.1b).

Education at a Glance 2012: Country Notes - Japan (Japanese)

Brazil boasts one of the largest increases in expenditure on education between 2000 and 2009 among the countries for which data was available.

Education at a Glance 2012 - Country Note - Canada (French)

Korea has reduced the share of individuals without upper secondary education while the proportion of tertiary-educated individuals increased rapidly over the past 14 years.

The 2012 edition of Education at a Glance enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries’ educational performance.

Whereas expenditure on education and expenditure per student increased significantly between 2000 and 2009, Estonia has seen the largest drop in education funding since the global recession, compared to other OECD countries.

In Colombia, the beginning of a new century has brought with it a palpable feeling of optimism. Colombians and visitors sense that the country’s considerable potential can be realised, and education is rightly seen as crucial to this process. As opportunities expand, Colombians will need new and better skills to respond to new challenges and prospects.

Note summarising the performance of Belgium in PISA 2012

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. To date, students representing more than 70 economies have participated in the assessment.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. To date, students representing more than 70 economies have participated in the assessment.