UN General Assembly
1980

82. At the beginning of the 1960s mankind was resolutely setting out for new horizons, and the rate of progress did indeed increase. The process of decolonization has almost been completed. The number of Members of the United Nations has increased from 100 in 1960 to 154 this year. A number of developing countries became new industrial countries or threshold countries. The per capita income of the third world rose at an annual rate of 3 per cent. And though this average rate may conceal the disparities between individual developing countries, it was an unprecedented growth which only few had thought attainable at the beginning of the 1960s. 83. In 1966 the General Assembly adopted the two International Covenants on Human Rights and, by specifically defining those rights, imbued them with a force which, despite all resistance, has begun to leave its impression on the lives of nations all over the globe.