Description: As an integral part of the national data ecosystem, integrating household surveys with other data sources has become paramount to produce data that are more comprehensive, inclusive and timely. Such integration also helps improve quality and efficiency of household surveys. Improving sampling efficiency and coverage is one of the eight technical priorities of the "Positioning Household Surveys for the Next Decade", a paper prepared by the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Household Surveys to guide the Group its support to national statistical offices. In this context, the UN Statistics Division and the National Bureau of Statistics of China are co-organising an international seminar on Integrating Household Surveys with diverse data sources. The seminar aims to foster knowledge exchange, explore innovative approaches, and address challenges related to survey data integration and interoperability. You are invited to submit abstracts (max. 250 words) for the technical meeting, focusing on one or more of the following aspects: - Practical experiences in negotiating data access with other data owners and in maintaining ethical standard and data confidentiality. - Experiences and work undertaken to improve interoperability of household surveys by design. - Methods used to build a multi-source frame for sampling. - Innovative approaches to integrate household survey with other data sources such as censuses, other surveys, administrative data and nontraditional data such as remote sensing, mobile phone positioning data, social media data and citizen-generated data. This may include record linkage or modelling. - Quality considerations for data integration and integrated data. We have limited funding for experts from low-income and lower-middle income countries. Deadline for submitting your abstract: 15 September 2024 (if you are interested in applying for funding) and 30 September otherwise. https://forms.office.com/e/LJY6Zxzsic.
Description: This course, presented by the Statistics Department, targets compilers with a certain degree of experience in the compilation and/or analysis of balance of payments and/or IIP. It aims at providing a deep understanding of the concepts, data sources and compilation techniques for balance of payments and IIP statistics and their application for addressing complex methodological issues. The course does not cover the basic balance of payments and IIP concepts. The intermediate level of the course presupposes participants’ familiarity with the basic concepts.The course consists of a series of lectures and workshops analyzing country cases with a strong data component and to allow peer learning and sharing of experiences. Recognizing the challenges in compiling data in emerging areas of user interest, the course emphasizes specific topics, such as estimating informal cross border activities and the treatment of special purpose entities. The course examines themes and challenges emerging from developments in global economy, and participants have the opportunity to discuss how these impact compilation work. Specific exercises are geared to integrating data compilation with Fund surveillance and policy advice; and to demonstrate the analytical uses of ESS.
Target Audience: Officials responsible for the compilation of external sector statistics (ESS) (balance of payments and/or international investment position (IIP) statistics), and who are familiar with the methodology of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Statistics Manual, sixth edition (BPM6).
Description: The Global Symposium on Soil Information & Data (GSID24), co-organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization, its Global Soil Partnership and the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISSCAS) will be held in Nanjing, China, September 25-28, 2024.
Description: Provisional Programme Concept note (English | 中文) Self-Assessment Tool on the Readiness to Use Administrative Data for Census (SATRAC) (Excel file) Objectives and Outcomes The workshop aims to strengthen participants’ capacity on how to better use administrative data to support the census. The objectives of the workshop are to: Provide an overview of the different potential uses of administrative data sources for the census. Discuss the concepts, features, preconditions, considerations, challenges, opportunities, and processes involved in the use of administrative data sources for census purposes. Discuss the self-assessment tool on the readiness to use administrative data for census purposes. Introduce the “Generic model for the transition from a traditional census to register-based approaches”. Draft potential approaches to increase the use of administrative data for censuses in participating countries. Exchange experience and learn from participating countries. Resources This workshop builds upon the Regional Training Workshop on Transition to Register-based Approaches for Population and Housing Censuses. Some of the key resources for this workshop include: UNFPA Register-Based Census eLearning Course United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Guidelines on the use of registers and administrative data for population and housing censuses. United Nations, New York and Geneva, 2018. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Guidelines for assessing the quality of administrative sources for use in censuses. United Nations, Geneva, 2021. United Nations Statistics Division. Handbook on Registers-Based Population and Housing Censuses, 2022. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Emerging Trends in Census Approaches in Asia and the Pacific – with country examples. United Nations, Bangkok, 2022. ESCAP Stats Briefs: Tapping into administrative data in census-taking: an emerging trend in Asia and the Pacific (2022) Are population censuses in Asia and the Pacific evolving? (2021) Population registers: a key resource for producing vital statistics (2020)
Description: The objective of International Workshop on Time-Use Statistics is to strengthen national capacity to collect and regularly produce comparable high-quality time-use data in cost-effective ways by adopting innovative data collection methods and latest technologies to inform and monitor public policies, including SDGs. The workshop will include presentations on conceptual and methodological issues, data sources, collection and compilation, country practices, and round-table discussions. The workshop will also be an opportunity to introduce the UN Guide to Producing Statistics on Time Use, endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission at its 55th session in 2024.
Description: This course, presented by Statistics Department, is based on the conceptual framework of the 2008 System of National Accounts (2008 SNA). It covers advanced methodological and practical issues related to the compilation of the sequence of accounts of the SNA (current and capital accounts, financial accounts, other changes in volume of assets accounts, revaluation accounts, and balance sheets) by institutional sectors. The course also examines the linkages between institutional sectors as a basis for establishing from-whom-to-whom accounts. The aim of the course is to provide participants with the necessary skills to compile—or further enhance—their country’s institutional sector accounts and the balance sheets. The course consists of lectures covering conceptual and methodological issues, workshops sessions on practical compilation issues, discussions on emerging financial issues such as fintech and crypto assets. It reviews case studies involving new applications of ISA such as household distributions to examine income, consumption and wealth accumulation by various cohorts and intergenerational transfers and pensions. The myriad ways in which the ISA supports economic policy is also examined. The lectures provide a thorough review of the methodological framework, concepts, and definitions relating to sectoral institutional sector accounts and balance sheets, examine potential data sources for the compilation of annual and quarterly ISA, and illustrate possible compilation techniques and procedures. The course also provides a forum for participants to share country practices and experiences relating to the compilation of sectoral institutional accounts and balance sheets.
Target Audience: Officials whose main responsibility is compiling national accounts, including financial accounts statistics and balance of payments statistics (specifically responsible for the sectoral accounts, household distribution accounts and accounts on a from-whom-to-whom basis), who are employed by national statistical agencies and central banks.
Description: The digital economy heavily relies on ICT for information management, enhancing productivity supported by ICT goods, services, and trade. This economy is characterized by core technologies (e.g., semiconductors, computers), enabling infrastructures (e.g., the Internet), and digitalized sectors like finance and media. Despite widespread digitalization, traditional economic metrics often overlook digital aspects. The Digital Supply-Use Tables (SUTs) framework addresses this by incorporating digital products and actors into national statistics. The 5th International Seminar aims to equip staff from developing countries' NSOs with skills to produce high-quality digital economy statistics, supporting informed policymaking and sustainable development.
Description: The United Nations Statistics Division, under the guidance of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Household Surveys (ISWGHS), is embarking on a project to revise and update the series of United Nations methodological publications on household surveys. A technical meeting is conducted to assess what the revised Handbook will cover and how the revision will be carried out. More specifically, the experts will (a) discuss what will be covered by the revision and how to offer a practical guide based on sound theories, tested and backed up by academic work; (b) discuss topics to be covered by the revision and further steps to cover additional topics, given a wide range of topics that household surveys encompass; and (c) agree on the timeline and processes for the revision.
Description: FAO appointed as one of the international advisers to the newly established Remote Sensing Laboratory for Agricultural Statistics in Hangzhou, China.
Description: Nowadays the conditions for the use of Earth Observation (EO) data for agricultural statistics are very favorable. The generous availability of free and open high resolution satellite data (such as from the Copernicus program) offer an unprecedented possibility to detect crop phenology and spectral traits, and to derive accurate agricultural statistics. Moreover, the expansion of cloud storage and computing capabilities, and the rise of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) has opened the door to high flexibility and alternatives for deploying low-cost infrastructures and automation. Despite all this, the actual uptake of EO data for operational use in national statistical offices is still relatively low globally, especially in developing countries, due to a series of barriers, such as the complexity of image pre-processing, low availability and low quality of in-situ data due to high cost of surveys and inconsistent use of georeferencing methods in the field, and models are area and time dependent, and a lack of user-friendly EO platforms. The 4th International Seminar was organized by the Global Hub on Big Data and Data Science for Official Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics of China together with UNSD and the UN task team on EO data for agriculture statistics. The topic of the seminar was remote sensing for agriculture statistics. The program of the seminar was led by experts from FAO, Mexico and Brazil and consisted of (i) Collection and validation of in-situ data, (ii) Pre-processing of the Satellite data, (iii) Classification of crops using various ML methods, (iv) Quality assessment of the classification, and (v) Crop yield estimation and data analysis and dissemination. In addition, various Chinese experts as well as experts of Rwanda shared their experiences in this field. The audience of the seminar consisted of about 20 participants from Asia and Africa and 80 participants of China. The opportunity of the seminar was taken to launch the laboratory of remote sensing for statistics. This laboratory is part of the Global Hub and will be used by experts from around the world.
Description: This course, presented by the Statistics Department, provides participants with an introduction to the compilation of monetary statistics covering the central bank (CB) and other depository corporations (ODCs) in accordance with international standards. Course materials are based on the Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual and Compilation Guide (MFSMCG). The course discusses the principles of residency and sectorization of institutional units, the characteristics and types of financial instruments, valuation principles, and other accounting issues that are relevant to the compilation of monetary statistics. Participants also become familiar with the defining characteristics of depository corporations (DCs), notably their role as money issuers, and with the main principles on which analysis of monetary and credit aggregates is based. The course consists of lectures, and exercises covering practical aspects of compiling monetary statistics, especially the use of financial statements for filling out standardized report forms (SRFs 1SR and 2SR) and the derivation of the respective surveys for the CB, ODCs, and the consolidated DCs sector. Participants should be prepared to ask questions and discuss challenges related to MFS compilation practices. This course is an abbreviated version of the longer, introductory MFS course traditionally offered by STA in-person.
Description: The main goal of the workshop is to assist the participants to gain better understanding of the concepts and definitions set out in the Frascati Manual 2015; Oslo Manual 2018, Guidelines for Collecting, Reporting and Using Data on Innovation, 4th Edition; and share best country and international practices, including STI indicators, statistics, and analyses.
Description: This course, presented by the Statistics Department, acquaints participants with the fundamentals of compiling and using FSIs in support of macroprudential analysis. The course covers methodological and technical issues in the construction of FSIs, as discussed in the 2019 Financial Soundness Indicators Compilation Guide (2019 FSI Guide). The course takes an interactive approach using hands-on exercises in discussing the main topics as follows: Preparation of the sectoral financial statements and compilation of FSIs for deposit takers; Regulatory framework for deposit takers; Accounting principles and data consolidation for the compilation of FSIs for deposit takers; and Overview of key points and changes in the 2019 FSI Guide.
Description: The Data Working Group, together with the GEOSS Platform and the GEO Knowledge Hub teams are organizing a two-day Open Data and Open Knowledge workshop that will take place in Geneva from 15-16 June 2023.
Organizer(s): UNCTAD International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals UN CCDRR Esri PVBLIC Foundation
Description: At the mid-point of the time foreseen for enacting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, there is an urgent need for more timely information for measuring the progress achieved so far and identifying the main bottlenecks and areas lagging behind. The COVID-19 crisis put in clear evidence the importance of timely and granular information for monitoring trends and for guiding the policy responses. However, many SDG indicators rely on official data that still suffer from long publication delays or that is only available incompletely or with insufficient coverage. In recent years, statistical methodologies, space technologies, and online data tools, including those based on machine learning methods, satellite remote sensing images, cloud-end big data platforms, and new data sources have been applied to comprehensively address those information gaps. UNCTAD co-organizes an event on ways for increasing timeliness and coverage of SDG indicators at the 4th UN World Data Forum (24-27 April, Hangzhou, China).The forum will bring together 1 500 in-person and nearly 20 000 virtual participants from national statistical offices, international organizations, the geospatial community, academic organizations, the private sector, and civil society organizations to showcase innovations and build impactful partnerships. The Forum is organized under the guidance of the UN Statistical Commission and the High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination, and Capacity-Building for Statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in close consultation with UN Member States and international partners. This session will highlight some recent examples of the works utilizing statistical methods and earth observation data in relation to specific SDG indicators. Rather than focusing on technical or computational details, the panelists will highlight the main challenges faced when applying their methods/utilities, as well as solutions and lessons learned that could help other actors to continue improving timeliness of SDG indicators at the national and international levels. Daniel Hopp, Statistician at UNCTAD, will present innovative methods of nowcasting using artificial intelligence. Daniel Hopp has a strongexperience in data ecosystems, machine learning, and programming to drive innovation in the domains of trade statistics, economic forecasting, and official statistics. Seakers: * Qunli Han, Executive Director, Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) International Programme Office * Huadong Guo, Academician & Director General, International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals * Yana Gevorgyan, Secretariat Director, Group on Earth Observations (GEO) * Jianhui LI, Professor, Vice-President, CODATA of the International Science Council * Gretchen Kalonji, School of Disaster Reconstruction and Management, Sichuan University - The Hong Kong Polytechnic University * Daniel Hopp, Statistician, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) * Charles Brigham, Geographer, Esri · Stephen Keppel, President, PVBLIC Foundation
Organizer(s): UNSD UN-GGIM Ministry of Natural Resources China
Description: The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in its resolution 2022/24 entitled 'Enhancing global geospatial information management arrangements' on 22 July 2022, recognized the sustained efforts of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) to establish the United Nations Global Geospatial Knowledge and Innovation Centre (UN-GGKIC) in Deqing, China to provide opportunities to develop and expand global geospatial capacity, competence and capabilities, and to strengthen geospatial information management arrangements in countries, especially developing countries. Further, ECOSOC reiterated "the importance of strengthening and enhancing the effectiveness of the Committee of Experts, particularly for the achievement of its operations focused on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework, to strengthen and ensure its continued effectiveness and benefits to all Member States." In making decision 12/101 at its twelfth session in August 2022, UN-GGIM noted the progress and efforts to finalize the modalities for the establishment of the UN-GGKIC in Deqing, China, and appreciated the involvement of the International Advisory Committees (IAC) throughout the setup process, and encouraged them to remain engaged and to regularly share progress with UN-GGIM as the Centre's operationalize their activities. The Agreement for the establishment of the UN-GGKIC in Deqing, Zhejiang Province, China and a Memorandum of Understanding on the operationalization of the UN-GGKIC were signed by the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and China"s Minister for Natural Resources in a virtual ceremony on 20 May 2022. The overarching goal of the UN-GGKIC is to work towards the ambitions of implementation of the United Nations Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (UN-IGIF) set by Member States to develop capacity, promote and support the required innovation, leadership, coordination and standards to develop, strengthen, integrate and deliver national geospatial information policy, data, systems, tools, services and capabilities into their national government development policies, strategies and arrangements. The objective of the UN-GGKIC is to strengthen and advance the geospatial information management capacity development capabilities of Member States, especially developing countries, and to strengthen knowledge sharing and innovative cooperation. The modalities for operationalizing the UN-GGKIC, as provided in the Memorandum of Understanding, include a Framework Plan and the formation of a Steering Committee and an International Advisory Committee. The UN-GGKIC will develop and implement its annual programme of work in accordance with the Framework Plan. The International Advisory Committee (IAC), comprised of international geospatial experts with balanced geographical representation and diversity from UN-GGIM, will provide the required guidance and advice on the development, implementation, and review of the substantive annual programme of work of the UN-GGKIC. The First Meeting, in-person, brings together all members of the UN-GGKIC: IAC at Deqing, China. Over the three days, the UN-GGKIC: IAC is expected to substantively guide and advice the UN-GGKIC in its development of a medium term and annual programme of work in accordance with the agreed Framework Plan.
Description: The United Nations Statistics Division and the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) are jointly organizing an international seminar on Measuring Shared Prosperity and Inclusion: Challenges and Innovative Approaches, 2-4 November 2022. The meeting aims to provide a platform for exchange of experiences in bringing innovations into the measurement of poverty and prosperity.
Description: The workshop aims to provide an update on the progress of the work to update the SNA; present the proposed outline of the 2025 SNA; discuss the guidance notes on the priority areas (communication, globalization, digitalization and well-being and sustainability) and thematic topics (financial and payments systems, informal economy and Islamic finance); and invite participating economies to participate in the experimentation and testing exercises for some guidance notes. Overseas participants who want to attend the workshop virtually should submit the online registration form by 5 pm, 31 August 2022, Beijing time.
