Classifications form the basis for data collection and data dissemination in every area of statistics. They provide standardized concepts used to describe phenomena such as economic activity, products, expenditures, occupation or health. They are necessary to consistently measure these phenomena within and across countries and geographical regions. International reference classifications set standards for internationally comparable classifications, which serve as models for the development of corresponding national, multinational and regional statistical classifications and form the basis for internationally comparable data. They are tools that are used by national statistical organizations, international agencies, academia and other users, including the legal community.

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5. Statistical Classifications
Classifications form the basis for data collection and data dissemination in every area of statistics. They provide
standardized concepts used to describe phenomena such as economic activity, products, expenditures, occupation
or health. They are necessary to consistently measure these phenomena within and across countries and
geographical regions. International reference classifications set standards for internationally comparable
classifications, which serve as models for the development of corresponding national, multinational and regional
statistical classifications and form the basis for internationally comparable data. They are tools that are used by
national statistical organizations, international agencies, academia and other users, including the legal community.
Classifications in UNSD version of ISIC that includes: the production and
distribution of information and cultural products; the
Within UNSD, the development of classifications provisions and means to transmit these products; as well
has been an integral part of its work programme as information technology, data processing and other
from the beginning. The first session of the information service activities. Additionally, since services
Statistical Commission after its inaugural meeting are absorbing an ever larger share of economic activity,
saw a Committee on Industrial Classifications this has been reflected in ISIC and the CPC through
elected to formulate proposals for an international increasing their visibility - a larger part of the structure
standard classification of industry. The Statistical and more detailed categories have been committed to
Commission has accorded constant attention to this their representation.
area, recognizing that an “essential requisite for any International standard classifications are designed to be
real comparability is the greatest possible extent of used in their original state or can be adapted to national
uniformity of definitions and classifications”. The specifics. Using them instead of developing a national
Expert Group on International Economic and Social classification from scratch, saves national statistical
Classifications, with UNSD functioning as secretariat, offices financial and technical resources and facilitates
provides global leadership in this area of statistics. international comparability of definitions and data.
Why adopt classifications standards? Where does your country stand?
International reference classifications function as Classifications are an essential mechanism for harmonization
“international languages” for communicating in and coordination of data compilations. As a result, they
statistics. If you wish your national data to be facilitate a country’s inclusion in global statistical datasets.
understood, appreciated, used or quoted widely, When international reference standards are not employed,
international reference classifications are an national statistical offices risk their data not being comparable
important tool. with those of other countries and miss out on opportunities to
They facilitate international comparability by see how their statistical indicators compare with overall world
providing standardized sets of categories which can development. They forego the opportunity to promote their
be assigned to specific variables. These categories’ data, and subsequently their country, when their data cannot
definitions are widely accepted and understood. be published within the internationally recognizable
frameworks. Classifications remain an important aspect of
International reference classifications for which collaboration and coordination efforts in the presentation of
UNSD is custodian, such as the International data.
Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic
Activities (ISIC) and the Central Product In preparing national statistics, the best possible tools should
Classification (CPC) are updated or revised be used for describing the economy. This often means that
periodically to ensure their relevance to current the international standards must be adapted to national
economic structures. economic conditions for better relevance and applicability.
This will facilitate the use of the classification as an
Attention is paid to new trends in technology and appropriate tool for policy development and policy analysis.
differing economic structures over time. For The majority of countries make use of the international
example, a new section on Information and reference classifications in this manner.
communication has been introduced into the latest
3

6. Recently revised classifications such as ISIC and statistics, economics, demographics, education, social
CPC have been developed after extensive welfare, labour, health, geography, environment or tourism. It
collaboration and consultation with counterpart also includes those classifications on similar subjects that are
classifications developers. Stakeholders such as derived or related to the international reference classifications
national statistical offices, international agencies and and are primarily, but not solely, used for regional or national
a cross section of users have been involved in all purposes.
phases of their development. This included three
Membership in the Family confers legitimacy on the registered
rounds of world-wide consultation as well as a series
classifications. It certifies that such classifications are
of regional workshops where stakeholders provided
technically defensible and have adhered to basic principles in
input into the discussion regarding concepts, structure
their development and implementation. They are therefore
and detail of the classifications. The resulting
regarded as models in the area of statistical classifications.
structures and organization of the classifications are
therefore truly global in nature. There is a strong collaborative element to the development of
classifications within the Family. The recent round of
international classification revisions, completed in 2008, includes
Technical cooperation – what is ISIC Rev. 4, CPC Ver. 2, the Standard International Trade
available? Classification (SITC Rev.4), the International Standard
Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08), and other
classifications within the Balance of Payments Manual (BPM 6)
Technical assistance for classifications is available in a
and the System of National Accounts. Collaboration in their
variety of forms:
development was sustained over the entire revision process.
Website: A United Nations Classifications Website is Correspondence tables between classifications within the Family
maintained as part of the UNSD website at are important tools and have been developed in the context of
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/class/. The website provides the revision process. They provide enhanced means for
information on meetings and workshops on harmonization and coordination of statistics.
classifications, updated classification structures
(including corrections), indices and correspondence
tables for a variety of classifications, as well as
Did you know?
information on classifications interpretations maintained
in the Registry. ● The Statistical Commission deliberated on statistical
classifications at its first meeting after the inaugural session.
Classifications Newsletter: A newsletter is published
bi-annually, providing information on the latest ● The development of statistical classifications for
developments in the area of international statistical economic analysis was receiving the attention of the League
classifications. of Nations even before the United Nations was set up.
Classifications Hotline: An electronic hotline is ● The International Standard Industrial Classification of All
available at chl@un.org to provide assistance with Economic Activities (ISIC) has been adopted as a standard
regard to the interpretation, structure and use of for data collection since 1948.
classifications under custodianship of UNSD, such as
ISIC, CPC and the Classifications of Expenditure ● The Statistical Commission has recommended that all
According to Purpose. Member states adapt their national classifications to be able
to report data at least at the two-digit level of ISIC, Rev. 4
Expert meetings: The Expert Group on International without loss of information.
Economic and Social Classifications meets biennially to
set guidelines, review progress and coordinate ● The number of categories at the most detailed level in ISIC
international work in the development and has increased by 271% since the initial version was published in
implementation of statistical classifications. 1948, while the number of such categories in the CPC has
increased by 51% since the initial version in 1989, reflecting a
Workshops: UNSD organizes workshops, sometimes growing need for more detailed comparable statistics.
jointly with regional commissions and other agencies of
the United Nations, to provide countries with information
on the development and implementation of economic Contact the Industrial and Energy Statistics Section for
and social classifications. enquiries at chl@un.org.
Website: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/class
What is the International Family of
Economic and Social classifications?
The International Family of Economic and Social
Classifications is comprised of reference classifications
that have been reviewed and approved as guidelines by
the United Nations Statistical Commission or other
competent intergovernmental boards on such matters as
4

7. Dissemination of Global Statistics
While the other four branches of the Statistics Division focus their data collection and dissemination activities on
one or a few specific areas of statistics, the scope of the dissemination work of the Statistical Services Branch
covers the full range of statistical themes.
Recognizing its unique and innovative service, UNdata has
Most Recent Developments received the 2010 UN21 Award for “Improvement in Client
Services”. The UN Secretary-General presented the award
UNSD’s internet-based data service for the global user acknowledging this outstanding initiative to improve the
community – UNdata – which was launched in early delivery of the Organization's programmes and services. This
2008, is fully equipped with all the functionalities for data award is the most recent example of the positive recognition
access, and its development team is continuously adding UNdata has received to date, demonstrating its value to the
new databases and features to further enhance user global statistical community.
experience.
The Statistics Division continues to organize its annual Data
Managers’ Meeting. The third meeting was held in October
2010 for the community of international data managers to
discuss common issues such as data quality, pricing policies,
working with the private sector, as well as future initiatives
and developments for the UNdata portal.
Keeping with Tradition
The United Nations Monthly Bulletin of Statistics (MBS) and
the United Nations Statistical Yearbook (SYB) were two of
the original pillars of the Statistics Division’s publications
programme and the global statistical system. Originally
prepared by and released as publications of the League of
Nations in Geneva – the Monthly Bulletin of Statistics in 1919
and the then-titled International Statistical Year-Book in 1927
– these statistical compendiums began being produced and
issued on a regular basis by the United Nations Statistical
Office in New York in 1947 and 1949 respectively. By the
UNdata brings numerous statistical databases within time the United Nations Statistical Commission meets for its
easy reach of users, free of charge, through a single 42nd session, over 800 editions of the Monthly Bulletin of
entry point (http://data.un.org/). Some of the tools Statistics and the Statistical Yearbook will have already gone
provided to aid research include Country Profiles, to press. These two bilingual (English and French)
Advanced Search and Glossaries. Also, users can easily publications have consistently figured at or near the top of the
access, through related links, the data resources of list of the “best sellers” of United Nations sales publications.
national statistical offices. Currently, there are 32 Like the Monthly Bulletin of Statistics and the Statistical
databases and 6 glossaries containing over 60 million Yearbook, the World Statistics Pocketbook, which was
data points and covering a wide range of themes produced for the first time in 1976, also covers a wide variety
including Agriculture, Education, Employment, Energy, of topics and is designed to serve a broad range of user
Environment, Health, Human Development, Industry, groups.
Information and Communication Technology, National
Accounts, Population, Refugees, Tourism, Trade, as well
as the Millennium Development Goals indicators.
5

8. industrial production, international merchandise trade,
Data Compilation and Dissemination international tourism and transport, labour force,
manufacturing, national accounts, population, prices,
These statistical products of the Branch aim at presenting, in research and development, and wages.
a consistent way, the most essential components of
comparable statistical information so as to give a broad The Statistical Yearbook is a sales product available in hard
picture of economic and social processes. The data have copy. PDF files of the latest Yearbook, as well as other
been drawn not only from in-house sources such as the recent editions, are available on the Statistical Yearbook
databases of the various branches of the Statistics Division website at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/syb.
which are responsible for compiling demographic and social,
energy, environment, industry, national accounts and trade
statistics, but also from numerous other sources including World Statistics Pocketbook
national statistical offices, UN agencies, and other
international and specialized organizations.
The World Statistics Pocketbook is an
annual compilation of over 50 key economic,
Coverage, Dissemination Formats and social and environmental indicators
covering several years, presented in one-
Accessibility page profiles for more than 200 countries
and areas of the world on the following
topics: agriculture, balance of payments,
Monthly Bulletin of education, energy, environment, food,
Statistics gender, health, industrial production,
information and communication,
international finance, international tourism,
The Monthly Bulletin of Statistics international trade, labour, migration,
presents current monthly and/or national accounts, population and prices. This popular sales
quarterly statistics on more than product is available in hard copy, and in addition, the entire
200 countries and areas of the data series contained therein is presented online free of
world. The Bulletin was one of charge as “Country Profiles” in UNdata and can also be
the first international statistical found, in PDF format, on the World Statistics Pocketbook
publications to become available website at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/
on the Internet and is currently pocketbook/.
disseminated free of charge
online (at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mbs/) in addition to its
subscription-based printed format. The statistics, which are Metadata and Quality
collected from national and international sources of official
data, cover the following topics: population, prices,
employment and earnings, energy, mining, manufacturing, Comprehensive documentation on the data sources of the
transport, construction, international merchandise trade and statistics presented in the outputs of the Statistical Services
finance. In general, the available data for the latest 18 Branch is provided. Technical notes on concepts, definitions,
months, along with annual averages of the months for the classifications and methodology as well as information on
last six years, are presented in over 50 tables in the print where to find more details from the data sources is given, in
version of the Monthly Bulletin of Statistics; the Monthly accordance with the Principles Governing International
Bulletin of Statistics Online database contains several Statistical Activities, which recommend that “Concepts,
additional data series (i.e. gross domestic product, retail definitions, classifications, sources, methods and procedures
trade indices and world food price indices) and a slightly employed in the production of international statistics are
longer time series. The most popular statistical series made transparent for the users”.
consulted online are the consumer price indices, industrial
production indices and total imports and exports. The team working on these products constantly strives to
ensure that the selected data disseminated by the Statistical
Services Branch are those of high relevance, accuracy,
Statistical Yearbook timeliness, accessibility, comparability and coherence.
The Statistical Services Branch contributes to the work of the
The Statistical Yearbook presents, Expert Group on National Quality Assurance Frameworks
in over 70 tables, annual data
and has developed the group’s website as a platform for the
ranging from one to ten years on
exchange of information and experiences on national and
over 200 countries and areas of
the world. The topics covered international quality assurance work. For more information,
are: agriculture, balance of see http://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/QualityNQAF/nqaf.aspx.
payments, culture and communication, Contact the Statistical Services Branch for enquiries at
development assistance, education, statistics@un.org.
energy, environment, finance, gender,
6

9. Distributive Trade Statistics
The Distributive Trade Statistics programme of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) has evolved over
more than fifty years, changing and responding to different data needs and the changing economic environments.
The adoption of the “International recommendations for Distributive Trade Statistics 2008” (IRDTS 2008) by the 39th
session of the United Nations Statistical Commission has set a new stage in the work of UNSD in this field. By using
common concepts, classifications, data sources and compilation methods with other fields of economic statistics
such as industrial and construction statistics in an integrated manner, and by being consistent with the
recommendations of the 2008 System of National Accounts (2008 SNA), IRDTS 2008 provides the comprehensive
methodological framework for collection and compilation of distributive trade statistics in all countries, irrespective of
level of development of their statistical systems.
guidelines for the collection, compilation and dissemination
Historical overview of distributive trade statistics.
In 2005 the UNSD initiated the revision of the existing
Growing importance has been attached to statistics on recommendations on distributive trade statistics with the
distribution since the very first meetings of the Statistical objective of bringing the methodological and operational
Commission (SC), at which the Commission requested foundation of distributive trade statistics into line with the
continued work on the subject of distribution censuses new economic developments, advances in statistical
and on statistics on wholesale and retail trade, giving approaches and methodologies, and needs of the
particular attention to the development of basic community of users in order to provide updated guidance
concepts and definitions suitable for use internationally. to countries on the compilation and dissemination of
The first Recommendations for the Statistics of the distributive trade data. This initiative was broadly endorsed
th
Distributive and Related Service Trades establishing a by the Statistical Commission at its 37 session in 2006.
uniform pattern for their measurement on a comparable To obtain assistance and guidance during the revision
th
basis were adopted at the 9 session of the process the UNSD established an Expert Group on
Commission held in 1956. Distributive Trade Statistics (EG-DTS) in 2005 which held
two meetings at the UN Headquarters in New York – in
The first international recommendations on distributive August 2005 and in July 2007. In order to facilitate the
and related service trades served as a useful guide to communication between the EG-DTS members, a
countries which had already undertaken surveys on password-protected website was also created to serve as a
distributive trade. However, there were a number of discussion forum.
issues which were not adequately dealt with in these
th
recommendations and needed to be reviewed and The United Nations Statistical Commission at its 39
updated in light of the most recent national and session in 2008 adopted the draft International
international requirements and practices. In 1974, the Recommendations for Distributive Trade Statistics 2008 as
SC adopted the updated International Recommendations the new international recommendations in this field of
on Statistics of the Distributive Trades and Services. In statistics and agreed to its implementation programme.
the same year, UNSD issued a manual on the
Organization and Conduct of Distributive Trade Surveys
as a supplementary publication to the international
International Recommendations for
recommendations. This manual is a practical guide to Distributive Trade Statistics 2008
the planning and management of censuses and surveys
of distributive trades and services, with particular
The IRDTS 2008 has been developed within the context of
attention to the problems encountered by countries at an
integrated approach to compilation of basic economic
early stage of statistical development.
statistics and it is fully harmonized with the
For a period of more than 30 years both documents have recommendations of other recently updated international
served as the international recommendations and statistical standards such as the International
Recommendations for Industrial Statistics 2008 (IRIS
7

10. 2008) being updated in parallel with IRDTS 2008 and the countries. The first workshop was organized in
System of National Accounts, 2008 (2008 SNA), collaboration with the African Center for Statistics (ACS) of
International Standard industrial Classification, Rev.4 the UNECA, and it took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
(ISIC,Rev.4), and Central Product Classification, Ver.2 from 27 to 30 May 2008. The second workshop was
(CPC, Ver.2). It covers all aspects of collection, compilation organized in collaboration with the Economic and
and dissemination of distributive trade statistics and Statistical Observatory for Sub-Saharan Africa (AFRISTAT)
provides a more comprehensive methodological framework and took place in Bamako Mali from 17 to 20 June 2008.
as it encompasses both annual and short-term statistics. It Both workshops were highly appreciated by participating
is also considerably expanded with the inclusion of new countries.
topics dealing with data sources and data compilation
The main purposes of the workshops were to present and
methods, approaches to data quality assessment,
discuss the new recommendations; to review the state of
metadata and dissemination policies.
the compilation and dissemination of distributive trade
statistics in African countries; and to identify the challenges
and good practices in their collection, compilation and
dissemination. The workshops were also intended to
provide inputs for the preparation of future manuals that
will provide practical guidance to compilers of distributive
trade statistics.
UNSD workshops on economic statistics in other regions
conducted during the period 2009-2010 were also used for
promoting the use and implementation of the IRDTS 2008
by developing countries.
As part of the UNSD initiative for the establishment of the
Knowledge base on Economic Statistics, national practices
in collection and compilation of distributive trade statistics
have been collected and included in that knowledge base.
Distributive Trade Indices
The IRDTS 2008 aimed to ensure the production of
distributive trade statistics which are policy relevant, meet To complement the IRDTS 2008 and provide additional
the demands of user community, timely, reliable, and guidance to compilers of distributive trade statistics on their
internationally comparable. The resulting recommendations implementation the UNSD in consultation with the EG-DTS
are applicable for all countries irrespective of the level of and the global statistical community prepared in 2010 a
development of their statistical systems. However, they are follow-up handbook on Indices of Distributive Trade: A
not intended to be prescriptive and should be implemented Handbook of Good Practices. The handbook is intended to
by national statistical offices in a way appropriate to their identify and address critical issues and challenges faced by
own circumstances, including the identified user needs, countries in the compilation and dissemination of
resources, priorities and respondent burden. distributive trade indices. It describes both the
methodological aspects relevant to the compilation of value
IRDTS 2008 has been printed in all UN official languages. and volume indices of retail trade turnover and experiences
Its electronic version as well as other distributive trade of several countries with different statistical background in
statistics documents are available from the UNSD website this area.
at:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/methodology%20DTS.htm Data Collection and Dissemination
IRDTS 2008 Implementation Programme Retail trade indices were first collected in 2010 as part of
the UNSD Monthly Bulletin of Statistics data collection
programme. The Bulletin’s online database currently
At the request of the 39th session of the SC the UNSD disseminates retail trade deflated sales/turnover
initiated a number of activities to promote the IRDTS 2008 (seasonally adjusted) indices for the latest 18 months
and assist countries in their implementation, including the along with annual indices for selected number of countries.
organization of regional training workshops, the collection
of national practices on distributive trade statistics and the
preparation of manuals and handbooks.
In line with this programme the UNSD organized two
workshops on distributive trade statistics for African
8

11. Energy Statistics
Energy statistics encompass basic energy statistics and energy balances aiming to describe how energy products
are produced by human activities within a national territory, how they enter into and/or exit from that territory and
how they are used in it. Energy statistics are fundamental to monitor the energy situation both at national and
international level and are the basis for sound energy policy making.
International Recommendations for Given the importance of the legal and institutional
Energy Statistics framework for the collection and compilation of energy
statistics, recommendations are formulated to promote
coordinated and efficient frameworks.
Following the recommendations of the United Nations
Statistical Commission at its thirty-seventh session (7- IRES provides recommendations on the general principles
10 March 2006), UNSD has worked in the past five underpinning the compilation of energy balances. A
years together with the Oslo Group on Energy Statistics template for the energy balance is presented in IRES in
and the Intersecretariat Working Group on Energy detailed and aggregated form as a reference.
Statistics (InterEnerStat) on the preparation of the IRES describes the main dimensions of energy data
“International Recommendations for Energy Statistics” quality and provides recommendations on how to set up a
(IRES). IRES will be submitted to the Statistical national energy data quality framework, including the
Commission at its Forty-first session (22-25 February development and use of indicators of quality and the
2011) for adoption. reporting on data quality and metadata.
IRES has been developed to provide a firm foundation Recommendations on the dissemination of energy
for the long-term development of official energy statistics, in particular on how to address data
statistics based on the Fundamental Principles of confidentiality, release schedules, and dissemination of
Official Statistics and contains guidance on the metadata are now formulated in IRES, consistent with
underlying concepts, definitions and classifications as other frameworks.
well as on data compilation and data dissemination in
the context of an integrated approach to economic In addition to concepts and definitions for energy statistics,
statistics. IRES also lists examples of the use of energy statistics
and its data items. IRES presents an explanation of the
IRES represents a major achievement in energy conceptual relationships between balances, on the one
statistics at the international level: it provides for the first hand, and energy accounts of the System of
time a set of internationally agreed and harmonized Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA), on the other,
definitions of energy products, reflecting the work on in order to assist both compilers and users of energy
harmonized definitions carried out by InterEnerStat and statistics. Examples of indicators relevant for energy
presents the Standard International Energy statistics are also provided, as well as a reference to the
Classification (SIEC) which will provide guidance for the importance of energy statistics for the calculation of
collection, compilation and dissemination of energy Greenhouse gas emissions
statistics and will facilitate the integration with other
statistical domains. Correspondences with the Central The preparation of IRES is the result of an extensive
Product Classification (CPC Ver. 2) and the Harmonized consultation with countries, regional and international
System (HS 2007) have been developed as part of the organizations as well as expert groups such as the Expert
SIEC work. Group on International Economic and Social
Classifications, the London Group on Environmental
IRES provides recommendations on the statistical units Accounting etc. A worldwide consultation on the
for use in data collection from both energy and non- development of IRES took place in two stages: the first on
energy industries. The reference list of data items for the scope and content of IRES; the second on the
collection (together with their definitions) is provided to provisional draft. After a detailed review of the provisional
reflect the specificity of each energy product and to draft IRES and the feedback from the second stage of the
ensure international comparability of the compiled worldwide consultation, the second Meeting of the Expert
statistics. Group on Energy Statistics (2-5 November 2010)
IRES provides an overview of data sources (e.g., recommended its submission to the UN Statistical
administrative data, surveys, etc.) and data collection Commission for adoption.
and compilation methods relevant to energy statistics.
9

12. Practical guidance for the implementation of IRES will
be provided in the Energy Statistics Compilers Manual
International Cooperation and Technical
(ESCM). It is expected that the ESCM will contain Assistance
further and more detailed explanations of the
recommendations and provide practical guidance for
compilers by describing best practices applicable under UNSD is an active participant in a number of international
different circumstances. It is expected that the Oslo initiatives related to energy statistics, such as:
Group on Energy Statistics will play a key role in the • The Oslo Group on Energy Statistics, a forum for
preparation of the ESCM. countries to discuss methodological issues and
contribute to the methodological development of
energy statistics.
Data collection and dissemination
• The Intersecretariat Working Group on Energy
Statistics (InterEnerStat), a forum for organizations
UNSD began regular dissemination of country and engaged in the collection of energy statistics from
global energy statistics in 1952, with its first international countries (at the global, regional and sectoral level),
time series “World Energy Supplies in Selected Years, as well as for major users of international energy
1929–1950.” UNSD continues to compile and statistics, to enhance the coordination of international
disseminate energy statistics annually from more than energy statistics and the collaboration of international
215 countries and territories. (global, regional and sectoral) organizations.
The UNSD Energy Statistics Questionnaire, which • The Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI), a cooperative
covers production, trade, transformation and final effort of seven international organizations (APEC,
consumption (end-use) of energy products, is sent to EUROSTAT, OECD/IEA, IEFS, OLADE, OPEC and
national statistical offices, ministries of energy or other UNSD) to report monthly statistics such as production,
national authorities responsible for energy statistics. The trade, stocks and stock changes, and total demand of
Questionnaire is the primary source of information for crude oil and selected petroleum products on a
the UNSD Energy Statistics Database. Additional regular basis to support transparency in the oil market
sources of information for the database include national, and user-consumer dialogue.
regional and international statistical publications. UNSD
prepares estimates where official data are incomplete or • International cooperation with other international
inconsistent. organizations (e.g. OECD/IEA and EUROSTAT),
countries, non-governmental organizations as well as
Energy statistics are disseminated through two annual with the United Nations regional commissions and
publications: United Nations specialized agencies, such as the
• The Energy Statistics Yearbook, which provides International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the
comparable data on the supply and demand of Food and Agricultural Organization of the United
energy products. It contains data in original physical Nations (FAO), on matters concerning energy
units and in common units – tons of coal equivalent, statistics.
tons of oil equivalent, or terajoules – to allow inter- Workshops on the compilation of energy statistics are
fuel comparison. being organized to assist statisticians and energy
• The Energy Balances and Electricity Profiles, which specialists in: improving their knowledge of energy
provide a snapshot of the energy supply and use statistics and increasing their ability to provide energy data
for a selected number of countries in a common for their governments, policy and decision makers, as well
energy unit, as well as detailed information on as for international organizations.
electricity capacity, generation, trade, losses and
final consumption of electricity.
Data from the Energy Statistics Database, from 1990 to
the most recent available year, are freely accessible
Contact information
through the UNdata portal at http://data.un.org. Data
prior to 1990 are available upon request. Contact the Industrial and Energy Statistics Section
As a result of the work on IRES, revisions to UNSD’s for enquiries at energy_stat@un.org.
annual questionnaire on energy statistics are expected
Website: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/energy
to reflect the updated recommendations. In addition,
UNSD is working toward the development of a joint
questionnaire with IEA and other relevant organizations
in order to reduce response burden on countries and
facilitate data exchange.
10

13. Environment statistics
Environment statistics describe the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the state and changes of the environment
and its interaction with human activities and natural events. Environment statistics are integrative, measure human
activities and natural events that affect the environment, monitor the impacts on the environment and the social
responses to environmental impacts. Environment statistics is an emerging statistical field in official statistics in
most countries and it is indispensable for evidence based policies and decision making to support sustainable
development.
Towards a revised framework for the will feed into the FDES revision and provide the basis
development of environment statistics for the core set of environment statistics.
and a core set of environment
statistics Collection and dissemination of global
environment statistics and indicators
UNSD developed a Framework for the Development
of Environment Statistics (FDES) that was published The Statistical Commission in 1995 approved the proposal
in 1984. The FDES presented a systematic approach by the Intergovernmental Working Group on the
to the organization and development of environment Advancement of Environment Statistics that UNSD carry out
statistics. It was accompanied by two technical reports a global compilation of environmental indicators from
which described detailed sets of statistical variables national statistical services, based on a core set of indicators.
within the FDES entitled Concepts and Methods of UNSD embarked on the collection of environment statistics
Environment Statistics: Human Settlements Statistics from national statistical offices in 1999, covering all non-
published in 1988 and Concepts and Methods of OECD/Eurostat countries. The data collection has since
Environment Statistics: Statistics of the Natural been established on a biennial basis as part of UNSD’s data
Environment published in 1991. The FDES was collection programme. UNEP joined the data collection in
considered a successful framework that has been 2004. The most recent round of data collection took place in
used by many countries. 2010 and the responses can be seen in the map below
showing the coverage of UNSD environmental data
The Statistical Commission at its forty-first session in
collections. The next round of data collection from the
2010 endorsed a work programme to revise the
countries will take place in March 2012.
FDES, based on improved scientific knowledge about
the environment and new requirements created by The UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire on Environment Statistics
emerging environmental concerns. Linked to the covers the areas of water, air, land and waste. The last three
revision of the FDES a programme to develop a core data collections focused on water and waste. Response
set of environment statistics was also endorsed. The
rates vary strongly by region. The best response rates are
revision is organized over the period 2010-2012 and
from Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and
implemented by UNSD with the help of the Expert
Group on the Revision of the FDES. Asia. Africa and the Pacific show low response rates.
An assessment of different theories and approaches, While the number of countries responding with data to the
international and country practices, and data Questionnaire has increased since 1999, many countries still
requirements created by international conventions, have only scattered data and are able to reply only on a
limited number of variables.
11

14. Technical cooperation and capacity
building
Following a thorough
validation process UNSD has organized and facilitated several
selected data sets, international, regional, sub-regional and national training
together with data from workshops, meetings and seminars in the field of
OECD, Eurostat and environmental statistics and indicators. In addition,
other sources, are technical assistance in environment statistics through
published by UNSD statistical capacity building projects was provided in the
through two main web- CARICOM, ESCWA and ECOWAS regions. Within
based products: the these projects, several activities were undertaken
UNSD Environmental including workshops, inter-country study tours, and
Indicators and Country direct technical assistance to selected countries.
Snapshots.
A major output of the CARICOM project was a regional
Ten themes have been publication entitled The CARICOM Environment in
selected to organize the Figures 2002, which was followed by a second one for
current set of UNSD Environmental Indicators: Air and 2004, and the next regional compendium is planned for
Climate; Biodiversity; Energy and Minerals; Forests; 2011. UNSD has continued to provide technical
Governance; Inland Water Resources; Land and assistance in this subject to the CARICOM Secretariat
Agriculture; Marine and Coastal Areas; Natural and its Member States.
Disasters; and Waste. The Country Snapshots include
many of the indicators from the UNSD Environmental The ESCWA and ECOWAS projects resulted in the
Indicators list, as well as other economic and publication of detailed assessments of the situation of
demographic background information. environment statistics in the countries of these two
regions.
12

15. A strategic Framework for Strengthening Capacity in the implementation of integrated environmental and
Development and Institutionalisation of Environment economic accounting and indicators of sustainable
Statistics in the ECOWAS Region was developed and is development.
being implemented by the ECOWAS Secretariat.
While work at UNSD concentrated on conceptual
Parallel with ongoing methodological work on the FDES frameworks, indicators and environmental-economic
and the core set of environment statistics UNSD is accounting, the UN-ECE Statistics Division pioneered
currently developing a long-term training and work on standard environment statistics classifications.
implementation plan to assist countries in establishing Environment statistics programmes also started at
environment statistics as part of their official statistics OECD and later at Eurostat, focusing on data collection
system. and indicator development.
In the late 1990’s UNSD embarked on data collection.
Coordination of international activities The first global collection of environment statistics was
launched in 1999 and since then it has been established
in environment statistics on a biennial basis.
In 2000 most countries signed the Millennium
The Statistical Commission at its thirty-fourth session in
Declaration and committed themselves to reach the
2003 empowered UNSD to convene an Intersecretariat
declaration’s goals and targets by 2015, including Goal
Working Group on Environment Statistics (IWG-ENV) to
7 on environmental sustainability, using 10 globally
coordinate and harmonize methodological work, data
agreed environmental indicators to monitor progress.
collection, dissemination, training and capacity building
programmes in environment statistics. The permanent The World Summit on Sustainable Development
members of the IWG-ENV are those organisations that (Johannesburg, August 2002) put the emphasis on
have well-established international programmes on reaching specific targets in specific time frames and
environment statistics (current members are UNSD, UN- monitoring progress, thus reaffirming the need for
ECE, UN-ECLAC, UN-ESCWA, UNEP, OECD, Eurostat statistics, indicators and integrated information systems
and FAO). The IWG-ENV also works through thematic that measure and track progress.
sub-groups as needed.
Ecosystem assessments, climate negotiations and
discussions of measuring progress and green growth
Milestones in the history of are recent developments that have a major influence on
current work in environment statistics.
environment statistics
The United Nations Conference on the Human Information on the Web
Environment (Stockholm, June 1972) was the first global
conference to signal that environmental concerns had ENVSTATS, Environment Statistics News and Notes
increasingly become the subject of mainstream report about national, regional and international events
socioeconomic policies and developments in environment statistics at
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/newsletters.htm
The first initiatives pertaining to the development of
environment statistics at the international level stemmed For more on ongoing methodological work in
from two meetings of the Economic Commission for environment statistics, questionnaires, indicators,
Europe (ECE) in 1973. Given the global environmental country data, access to data sources and publications
concerns, a draft programme of international work in visit http://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/default.htm
environment statistics was first submitted to the
Statistical Commission at its eighteenth session in 1974.
Contact address
The second major global conference in the
environmental field was the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, June Environment Statistics Section
1992) where a groundbreaking consensus was United Nations Statistics Division
achieved that strategies of sustainable development 2 UN Plaza, DC2-1418
should integrate environmental issues into development New York, NY 10017, United States
plans and policies. Specific recommendations by Fax: + 1 212 963 0623
Agenda 21 to UNSD referred to the development and E-mail: envstats@un.org
13

17. Environmental-Economic Accounting
Environmental-economic accounting is a multi-purpose system for environmental information. It brings together
economic and environmental information in a common framework to measure the contribution of the environment
to the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment. By using common concepts, definitions and
classifications, the SEEA provides a transparent information system for strategic planning and policy analysis in
particular for natural resources management, sustainability, and climate change analysis.
Towards an international statistical Commission in 2011. The global consultation on the chapters
standard for environmental-economic will begin this spring.
accounting and supporting statistics The SEEA revision process is a global exercise under the
management and supervision of the United Nations
The statistical community has agreed on an urgent need Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic
to mainstream environmental-economic accounting and Accounting (UNCEEA). A project management framework
related statistics within national statistical systems to that describes the governance, resources, deliverables and
respond to increasing policy demands. To this end, the timelines for this process has been agreed by the Statistical
United Nations Statistical Commission decided to Commission.
elevate the Handbook of National Accounting:
The revised SEEA will build upon its predecessors, the
Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting
SEEA-2003 and the SEEA-1993.
(SEEA) to an international statistical standard.
• The SEEA-2003 was issued in 2003 by the United
The revised SEEA will be the statistical standard for
Nations, the European Commission, the International
environmental-economic accounting as the System of
Monetary Fund, the Organization of Economic
National Accounts is the statistical standard for
Cooperation and Development, and the World Bank. It
economic accounts. It will provide internationally agreed
represented a major step forward in the development of
recommendations expressed in terms of concepts,
environmental-economic accounting but did not provide
definitions, classifications, accounting rules and
unique recommendations to several issues.
standard tables in order to obtain international
comparability of environmental-economic accounts and • In 1993 the United Nations published the Handbook of
supporting statistics. The revised SEEA facilitates National Accounting: Integrated Environmental and
analysis and policy-making for all countries, regardless Economic Accounting or SEEA-1993. As the discussion
of industrial structure or stage of economic development. of concepts and methods had not come to a final
conclusion the SEEA-1993 was issued as an "interim"
The SEEA is comprised of three parts. Part I will be put version.
forward for adoption as an international standard by the
Statistical Commission at its 43rd Session in 2012. Part • A suite of publications has been developed on specific
II will introduce the conceptual framework for resources or SEEA modules, including SEEA-Water,
‘ecosystem accounts’. Part III will provide information for SEEA-Energy and international recommendations for
guiding policy applications. water and energy in order to elaborate in detail on these
themes and support the wider SEEA revision.
Part II is currently under development by UNSD in
partnership with the World Bank and the European
Environmental Agency, among others, and will be SEEA-Water and International
available for endorsement by the international statistical Recommendations for Water Statistics
community in 2013, one year following the expected
adoption of Part I. Part III is also being developed in The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for
parallel and the SEEA is expected to be published as a Water (SEEA-Water) provides a conceptual framework for
complete volume in early 2013, organizing the hydrological and economic information in a
A set of recommendations on a list of issues for Part I coherent and consistent framework. The UN Statistical
was developed on the basis of global consultation and Commission at its thirty-eighth session in 2007 adopted the
has been submitted for endorsement by the Statistical SEEA-Water as an interim international statistical standard
15

18. and, recognizing significant demand from the users’ thirty-sixth session in 2005, established the United Nations
community, encouraged its implementation in countries. Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic
Accounting (UNCEEA). Membership of UNCEEA consists of
The International Recommendations for Water Statistics
countries and international organizations.
(IRWS) has been developed as part of the UNSD
regular work programme to assist countries in the The objectives of the UNCEEA are to (a) mainstream
establishment and strengthening of an information environmental-economic accounting and related statistics; (b)
system for water in support of Integrated Water elevate the SEEA to an international statistical standard by
Resources Management. 2012; and (c) advance the SEEA implementation in countries.
In addition to the development of IRWS, the The UNCEEA is chaired by Mr. Peter Harper, Deputy
implementation strategy identified the development of Australian Statistician, Australian Bureau of Statistics. UNSD
guidelines on data collection and compilation material; serves as its permanent Secretariat. The UNCEEA has also
of training and promotion material; of a technical established a Bureau consisting of senior statisticians, to
cooperation programme consisting of regional activities assist the UNCEEA with the oversight and day-to-day
as well as pilot projects in selected countries in various management of the projects under its responsibility.
regions.
London Group on Environmental
SEEA-Energy Accounting
The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for The London Group is a city group established by the
Energy (SEEA-Energy) is currently being developed by Statistical Commission in 1994 to allow practitioners to share
UNSD in cooperation with the London Group on experiences developing and implementing environmental
Environmental Accounting and under the auspices of accounts linked to the System of National Accounts. It
the UNCEEA. It will provide the international statistical convened its first meeting in March 1994 in London, England.
standard for energy accounts. Since its establishment, the London Group on Environmental
Accounting has played a leading role in advancing the
The SEEA-Energy will consist of agreed concepts, methodologies on environmental-economic accounting.
definitions, classifications and inter-related tables and
accounts related to energy. It will also elaborate on the The London Group on Environmental Accounting made
links between energy balances and energy accounts. substantial contributions to resolving the technical issues for
the revision of the SEEA. The Group is chaired by Mark de
Following the same model as SEEA-Water and IRWS, Haan, Statistics Netherlands.
the SEEA-Energy has been developed in coordination
with the International Recommendations for Energy
Statistics (IRES). Both the IRES and SEEA-Energy will Global Assessment
provide countries with guidance on how to organize and
improve the energy statistics programmes to meet To assess the status of the implementation of the
energy policy demands. environment statistics and environmental-economic
accounting programmes in countries and the role of NSOs in
SEEA-Fisheries these programmes, UNSD launched a global assessment
under the auspices of the UNCEEA.
In 2005, the Handbook of National Accounting: The Global Assessment of Environment Statistics and
Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting for Environmental-Economic Accounting was carried out in two
Fisheries (SEEAF) was issued jointly by UNSD and the phases. Phase 1 was conducted in 2006 to obtain a general
FAO Fisheries Department. The handbook is a manual overview of the status of the implementation and scope of
of best practices and provides guidelines on environment statistics and environmental-economic
environmental-economic accounting for capture accounting programmes in countries. Phase 2 was
fisheries and aquaculture. conducted for selected resources or modules to obtain a
more in-depth understanding of country practices.
UNCEEA The Global Assessment Phase 1 indicated that a
considerable number of countries — about half of the
Acknowledging the rising importance and demand for countries that responded to the assessment (49 countries) —
environmental-economic accounting on the international have an environmental-economic accounting programme.
statistical agenda, the Statistical Commission, at its This is noteworthy considering that environmental-economic
16

19. accounting is a relatively new area of statistics. In recognized the SEEA-Water as a coherent and valuable
addition, about 20 countries which are not currently framework for developing national integrated information
compiling environmental-economic accounts indicated systems for water.
that they are planning to start with their compilation in
The Conference of the International Association of Official
the near future.
Statistics on Official Statistics and the Environment, held in
Phase 2 of the Global Assessment of Energy Statistics Chile in October 2010, provided an excellent opportunity to
and Balances was carried out in 2007. Modules on promote SEEA within the international statistical community.
energy accounts and on water statistics and accounts One of the keynote presentations, made by the Chair of the
were carried out in 2008. The results of these studies Committee of Experts, demonstrated how SEEA provides a
are available as background documents to the Fortieth system’s approach for informing environmental-economic
Session of the Statistical Commission (held in February policy. The Conference also included sessions on the SEEA
2009). and a number of other presentations directly relevant to
SEEA
The Global Assessment of Water Accounts indicated
that the number of countries compiling water accounts In addition to developing Part III of the revised SEEA on
has risen to 33 (from 22 in 2006) with additional 14 policy applications, the UNCEEA considers it important to
countries indicating that they had plans to implement ensure that the SEEA is recognized as the monitoring and
them in the following two years. evaluating framework for various policy frameworks, including,
for example, the green economy and green growth projects
The Global Assessment of Energy Accounts indicated
and in the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development
an increasing interest in energy accounts (20 of the 38
(Rio +20). Glossy publication describing the relevance of the
responding countries are compiling energy accounts
SEEA as the monitoring framework for Sustainable
and 18 countries indicated plans to expand or start
Consumption and Production, Climate Change and Water are
compiling energy accounts in the following two years.
being developed under the auspices of the UNCEEA.
The Assessment also identified the lack of
methodological standards as one of the most pressing
impeding factors in the implementation. Technical assistance
Promotion/Dissemination UNSD is active in providing assistance to developing
countries. As a result of the adoption of the SEEA-Water and
the IRWS as standards, its focus has been on the
One of the tasks of the UNCEEA is to promote the
implementation of the SEEA-Water and the improvement of
SEEA within the statistical community as well as in the
water statistics.
users’ community. To this end, a web-based knowledge
platform has been established. With the assistance of an Inter-regional Adviser, UNSD has
(http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/ceea). provided regional training workshops in all regions bringing
together statisticians and water experts.
The platform features events and activities in the field of
environmental accounting and a searchable archive of Selected countries received assistance in developing and
publications. The archive contains over 300 strengthening their programmes on water accounting and
methodological publications and country practices on statistics. These countries included Brazil, China, Dominican
environmental-economic accounting. Republic, Egypt, Guatemala, Oman, Mexico, Jordan,
Lebanon, Namibia, and South Africa.
The SEEA News and Notes is a newsletter that serves
as the official vehicle to widely disseminate on-going For enquiries please contact the Environmental-Economic
activities in environmental-economic accounting. Accounts Section at: seea@un.org.
Close cooperation with stakeholder communities are
being fostered continuously. Continued efforts to
promote the SEEA-Water and the International
Recommendations for Water Statistics (IRWS) within
the statistical and the water communities are on-going.
In August 2011, UNSD will organize sessions and
training courses as part of the Water Theme Day at the
th
58 World Statistics Congress of the International
Statistical Institute (ISI) in Dublin, Ireland with the
participation of experts from the water community. This
th
is a follow up to the 5 World Water Forum which
17

21. Gender statistics
The Statistics Division’s work on gender statistics was initiated in the early 1980s. The programme has been
geared to users’ needs, and has provided technical support to women’s and gender units of the United Nations
funds and programmes, statistical units of regional organizations, and national statistical offices.
Introduction Methodological work
The Statistics Division’s work on gender statistics was The methodological work in gender statistics has involved
initiated in the early 1980s, mid-way into the United reviewing concepts and methods currently used in the
Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and collection of official statistics, and identifying ways of
Peace (1976-1985) and in response to the call for more integrating a gender perspective in order to avoid biases in
statistics on the status of women. The programme has the data collection, presentation and dissemination. Several
been shaped by demands from four international manuals and reports have been prepared from these reviews.
conferences on women and other conferences, such as The first was Improving
the World Summit for Social Development (1995) and Concepts and Methods for
the International Conference on Population and Statistics and Indicators on the
Development (1994). The programme has been geared Situation of Women (1984),
to users’ needs, and has provided technical support to followed by Improving
women’s and gender units of the United Nations funds Statistics and Indicators on
and programmes, statistical units of regional Women Using Household
organizations, and national statistical offices (NSOs). Surveys (1988), and Methods
The gender statistics programme was designed to of Measuring Women’s
address three main problem areas: Participation in the Informal
Sector (1990). Another aspect
The need for data collection systems to take gender of methodological work is the
issues into account in all stages of data production; development of methods to
collect data on particular
The limited availability and accessibility of gender
gender issues of concern, such as the Guide to Producing
statistics;
Statistics on Time Use: Measuring Paid and Unpaid Work
The under-utilization of gender statistics. (2005).
These problems have, to a large extent, been addressed The Division has initiated work to improve the measurement
with activities geared towards the review of concepts and of violence against women. In 2007, it joined forces with the
methods; compilation and dissemination of gender Division for the Advancement of Women and the Economic
statistics; technical assistance; and training. The Commission for Europe in organizing an expert group
success of the programme in responding to users needs meeting on measuring violence against women. The issue
has given the Statistics Division an unparalleled was taken up in the 2008 Statistical Commission, which
recognition in this field, resulting in strong partnerships established the Friends of the Chair group to work on the
with counterpart agencies and coordinated support for development of statistical indicators for measuring violence
the development of gender statistics. against women. The Friends of the Chair group has since
developed a list of recommended statistical indicators to
measure violence against women and requested the Division
to develop a set of guidelines for producing statistics on
violence against women.
19

22. Compilation and dissemination of The World’s Women: Trends and Statistics, 1970-1990.
This maiden publication and the two subsequent editions
gender statistics (1995 and 2000) presented a statistical analysis of the
situation of women in comparison to men, highlighting gender
The compilation and dissemination component of the gaps in various areas of concern. In 2005, the issue focused
programme aims at making gender statistics and on the progress made in the production of gender statistics
indicators readily available in formats and media that are and highlighted the wide variations in statistical capacity
not only easily accessible to users, but also well among countries. The 2010 issue of The World’s Women,
understood. Drawing from official data collected from launched on World Statistics Day 2010, again presented a
countries by the Statistics Division and other United
Nations agencies, a wide range of outputs addressing
different audiences and areas of policy concern have
been produced. This work began in the 1980s with the
report Compiling Social Indicators on the Situation of
Women (1984) and the compendium “Selected Statistics
and Indicators on the Status of Women” (1985). These
were followed by the publication and dissemination, in
1987, of the first global database on gender statistics
(WISTAT). Between 1987 and 2000, four versions of the
WISTAT database were issued.
Following technological advances, the Division
expanded its dissemination programme with the
introduction, in 1996, of an on-line resource, Statistics
and Indicators on Women and Men, which presents the
latest country-level data available in selected areas of
gender concern. The data is accessible at
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/indwm.
To further facilitate access to and enhance the
visualization of key gender statistics and indicators, the
Division released GenderInfo 2007. This global database
of country-level gender statistics and indicators employs
DevInfo technology to provide users with an easy-to-use
tool to visualize data through customizable tables,
graphs and maps. GenderInfo is available in CD-ROM statistical analysis of the situation of women and men, as in
format and on-line at: the three earlier issues.
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/genderi
nfo/
Technical cooperation and capacity-
building
The Statistics Division provides a variety of technical
assistance in gender statistics to national statistical offices,
regional programmes and United Nations agencies. This
support has ranged from organizing training workshops at the
interregional, regional and national levels to providing direct
technical assistance to countries, agencies and other
institutions. In the late 1980s, the efforts involved providing
technical inputs, in partnership with the United Nations
International Institute for the Advancement of Women
(INSTRAW), to conduct national and sub-regional workshops
In 1991 another avenue of gender statistics
to promote user-producer dialogue on user needs, limitations
dissemination was introduced through the publication
20

23. in the concepts and methods, and challenges in data agencies providing both technical and financial contributions.
collection. The focus of the workshops was subsequently The publication Handbook for Producing National Statistical
directed to enhancing the capacity of national statistical Reports on Women and Men (1997) was produced with
offices to compile and disseminate gender statistics. In support of a Joint Consultative Group comprised of several
2007, an inter-regional workshop brought together United Nations agencies; and the Guide to Producing
statisticians from Africa, Europe and Asia and the Pacific Statistics on Time Use was prepared with financial support
to promote the sharing of knowledge and experiences on from UNDP and International Development Research
improving national gender statistics, with emphasis on Centre/Canada. In 2006, the Interagency and Expert Group
women’s contribution to the economy. Meeting on the Development of Gender Statistics, organized
by the UN Statistics Division in New York in 2006, was made
Another significant area of technical cooperation has
possible by the collaboration and support of the World Bank
been in the implementation of projects at the national
and UNFPA
and regional levels. For example, in the early 1990s, the
Division implemented a national project to create a At this 2006 Meeting, it was recognized that international
gender statistics database in the Women’s Bureau of dialogue and cooperation was critical for the global
Kenya, with funding from the United Nations Population advancement of gender statistics. Since then, international,
Fund (UNFPA). In the Caribbean region, a regional regional and national partners have continued to support the
project funded under the UN Development Account in ongoing work on gender statistics through two major
the early 2000s helped establish a programme on social avenues:
and gender statistics in the Caribbean Community
(a) The Global Forum on Gender Statistics
(CARICOM) Secretariat and generate the publication
Women and Men in the Caribbean Community: Facts The Global Forum on Gender Statistics has been convened
and Figures, 1980-2001 (2003). by UNSD with the support of the World Bank, UNFPA, UNDP
and African Development Bank. Three meetings have taken
Ongoing technical assistance has also been provided
place since 2006: in Rome, Italy in December 2007, in Accra,
upon request to institutions including United Nations
Ghana in January 2009, and in Manila, Philippines in October
departments, funds and programmes, national statistical
2010. The purpose of the Forum is to promote and advance
offices and development partners, usually but not
gender statistics through the exchange of knowledge and
exclusively in the form of the Division providing resource
experience in this field, with a specific topical focus each time.
persons for regional and national training workshops.
The Forum represents a venue for statisticians, users of
statistics and policy-makers to assess the production and
Partnerships availability of gender statistics.
(b) Meetings of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on
The gender statistics programme has evolved through Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS)
producer-user cooperation at the international and
The IAEG-GS has met three times since 2006. The group’s
regional levels. Much of the Division’s accomplishments
main tasks are to take stock, review progress, challenges
in this programme can be attributed to its successful
and emerging needs, and propose actions to advance gender
cooperation with and the financial support of various
statistics at the international, regional, sub-regional and
agencies and development partners, including
national levels.
INSTRAW, UNFPA and
the Norwegian
government in the early
years. While the Division
has provided a lot of
technical support to
agencies, it has also
received programming
support from these and
bilateral institutions. For
example, The World’s
Women series is a result
of an interagency effort,
with collaborating
21