Globally, the rate of girls of primary school age enrolled in school increased from 79 to 86 per cent between 1999 and 2007, with Central and Western African regions having the world's lowest rates with less than 60 per cent of primary-school age girls enrolled.

The report also notes that while more women between the ages of 25 and 54 are working in most regions as compared to 1990, women's wages represent between 70 and 90 per cent of the wages of their male counterparts.

Their participation in decision-making remains an area of concern, according to the report. In 2009, for example, only 14 women in the world held the positions of head of State or government, and out of the world's 500 largest corporations, only 13 had female chief executive officers.

The publication also shows that households with single mothers with young children are more likely to be poor than those of lone fathers with young children, and that existing laws limit women's access to land and other property in most countries in Africa and roughly half of the countries in Asia.

Srdjan Mrkic, head of DESA's Social Statistics Section, noted that there have been improvements in the collection of data on the status of women around the world, but more needed to be done on that score.

"In preparing the World's Women 2010 report, we were hampered by the fact that adequate and comparable statistics in certain domains are not routinely available for many countries," he told reporters at the publication's launch.

Also unveiled today was a UN Population Fund (UNFPA) report, entitled State of World Population 2010, which found that discrimination against women not only exposes them to the worst effects of disaster and war, but also deprives their countries of a prime engine for recovery, according to a new United Nations report launched today.

"This year's report is about the three Rs: resilience, renewal and redefining roles between boys and girls and men and women," UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said at the official launch in London of the report, which uses stories of individuals affected by conflict or catastrophe in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haiti, Iraq, Jordan, Liberia, the occupied Palestinian territory, Timor-Leste and Uganda to bring home its message.

It shows how communities and civil society are healing old wounds and moving forward, while stressing how much more still needs to be done to ensure that women have access to services and have a voice in peace deals or reconstruction plans.