report of the Secretary-General on the composition of the Secretariat (A/38/347) that over the past five years a certain amount of progress had been made in improving the geographical representation of States in the Secretariat, particularly through a substantial increase in the number of countries that were within their desirable range and a decrease in the number of countries above that range. 15. However, as could be seen from the tables in the report, there were still major imbalances. Despite the targets laid down in many General Assembly resolutions, a number of States continued to be over-represented both quantitatively and qualitatively. Although such inequities could not be eliminated in the very short term, it should be possible to phase them out, since a great number of officials were recruited each year. It was therefore hard to understand the continuing practice of recruiting officials from over-represented countries. A greater effort must therefore be made to do away with such imbalances in the representation of States in the Secretariat, both by the responsible Secretariat officials and by the Member States. It was urgent that the latter should take more resolute action, in particular with a view to increasing the number of posts subject to geographical distribution. There was no real explanation for the fact that only approximately a quarter of the permanent posts in the Secretariat were subject to geographical distribution. It would be virtually impossible to eliminate the inequities in question, eVen in the long term, unless considerable adjustments in that proportion were made. In that connection, he wished to draw attention to the statement concerning posts subject to geographical distribution at the D-2 level or above in the fourth sentence of paragraph 13 of the report. 16. Through no fault of its own, Romania had become an under-represented country 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the composition of the United Nations Secretariat and the representation of countries within it. The focus is on geographical representation, with a specific emphasis on the imbalance of countries in the Secretariat. The text does not mention any specific economic, environmental, or social issues, but rather highlights the need for greater geographical distribution of posts within the Secretariat.

**Category**
International relations, Employment