The Global Report series has been designed to monitor the implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005). It also provides evidence of how this implementation process contributes to attaining the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and targets. The 2018 Global Report analyses progress achieved in implementing the 2005 Convention since the first Global Report was published in 2015. Grounded in the analysis of the Quadrennial Periodic Reports submitted by Parties to the Convention and relevant new findings, this report examines how the 2005 Convention has inspired policy change at the global and country level in ten areas of monitoring. It puts forward a set of policy recommendations for the future, addressing the adaptation of cultural policies to rapid change in the digital environment, based on human rights and fundamental freedoms. When deployed together, the two editions of the Global Report are beginning to produce new and valuable evidence to inform cultural policy making and advance creativity for development.