Demographic and Social Statistics

Recognition of the centrality of gender equality to social and economic development has led to an increase in the demand for gender statistics and indicators for monitoring and planning. Although considerable effort and resources have been invested towards the development of gender statistics worldwide, significant gaps remain. In particular, there are still many critical areas of concern for gender equality for which little or no gender statistics exist. Moreover, while many activities are being conducted towards improving gender statistics, their regular production and use have yet to be institutionalized at the national, regional and global levels.

In order to address the need for advancing the development of gender statistics, the United Nations Statistics Division, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank, convened an Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS). The group met for the first time in New York, from 12-14 December 2006 to take stock and assess potential strategies to improve gender statistics at the national and global levels.

The IAEG-GS brings together representatives of international agencies within and outside United Nations system, statisticians from National Statistical Systems, and development partners, to review progress and provide guidance on future activities geared at advancing gender statistics. The UN Statistics Division is the secretariat of the group, while the chairmanship is held by a country member of the IAEG, on a rotational basis. The IAEG-GS has the main purpose of advancing gender statistics at the global level through monitoring progress, addressing challenges and gaps, planning future work and establishing good practices. Its work is based on the recognition that enhancing national statistical systems' capacity to develop gender statistics is key to addressing gender equality and promoting women's empowerment.

Terms of Reference (as of October 2013)

List of gender-relevant SDG indicators by the IAEG-GS (as of November 2021)

Minimum Set of Gender Indicators (as of October 2025)

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• International Classification of Activities for Time-Use Statistics 2016 (ICATUS 2016)
• Guidelines for Producing Statistics on Asset Ownership from a Gender Perspective
• Integrating a gender perspective into statistics [ wiki, pdf ]
• Guidelines on producing statistics on violence against women: statistical surveys [ English, Chinese, Russian ]
• Gender Statistics Handbooks

Mainstreaming a gender perspective in statistics means systematically considering gender issues and potential gender-based biases in the production of all official statistics, across every stage of the data lifecycle. Embedding gender statistics within all statistical domains - rather than treating them as a separate or "add-on" field - is essential for ensuring their sustainability and relevance. When gender statistics are isolated, they often remain marginalized and fail to reach a broad set of users, including policymakers working outside gender equality, as well as analysts and researchers.

Integrating a gender perspective throughout the statistical system enhances the overall coverage of gender issues, facilitates more efficient coordination across statistical programmes, and improves the usability of gender-related data.

For guidance on how to integrate a gender perspective into statistics, see Integrating-a-Gender-Perspective-into-Statistics-E.pdf.

At its 51st session in 2020, the United Nations Statistical Commission requested the systematic integration of a gender perspective across all its agenda items, following the practice of the Statistical Conference of the Americas (Decision 51/115, (b)).

To support this mandate, the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS) established an Advisory Group to guide efforts to embed gender considerations across the Commission's work. Building on the IAEG-GS's extensive experience across social, economic, environmental, and cross-cutting statistical domains, the Advisory Group provides structured advice by:

• engaging with relevant expert groups,
• compiling national examples, and
• preparing concise guidance notes highlighting gender considerations in each thematic area.

Aligned with the Commission's working methods, the Advisory Group serves as a reference group consulted at key stages of ongoing or new initiatives. The IAEG-GS formalized this role at its fifteenth meeting in December 2021, creating the Advisory Group on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective into the Work of the Statistical Commission.

The Group identified two initial priority areas for integrating a gender lens:

• business and trade statistics   guidance note   repository
• climate change statistics  

Complementing this work, the Statistics Division has conducted an analysis of how gender issues are addressed across sessions of the Statistical Commission, reviewing official reports, background documents, decisions, and side events.

• 54th session (2023)
• 55th session (2024)
• 56th session (2025)

• Minimum set of gender indicators
• Time-use statistics

The World's Women reports were prepared by the Statistics Division of the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) at five-year intervals, starting in 1990. Seven reports have been published as part of the The World's Women series.

In order to streamline our gender statistics publications, The World's Women: Trends and Statistics has been discontinued since 2020. The UN Global Gender Data Hub will continue to advance, containing the Minimum Set of Gender Indicators, as well as in-focus topics.

The World's Women 2020: Trends and Statistics compiles 100 data stories that provide a snapshot of the state of gender equality worldwide. The report analyses gender equality in six critical areas: population and families; health; education; economic empowerment and asset ownership; power and decision-making; and violence against women and the girl child as well as the impact of COVID-19.

• WW2020 (.pdf)
• Executive summary
• Press release
• Infographics
• 5 things to know about Gender Equality (video)

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The Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE) project is a joint initiative of the United Nations Statistics Division and UN Women that seeks to improve the integration of gender issues into the regular production of official statistics for better, evidence-based policies.

UNSD
• Asset Ownership from a Gender Perspective

Regional Commissions
• ECA - Gender statistics toolkit
• ECE - Gender statistics toolkit
• ESCWA - Gender Statistics E-Learning Course (Arabic)

Agencies
• FAO - SDG Indicator 5.a.1

Please find a complete list of our meetings here.

Global Forum on Gender Statistics brings together producers and users of gender statistics from national and international statistical offices, other government agencies, international organizations, academia, civil society, private sector and the donor community. Held every two years since 2007, it is an opportunity to discuss ways to improve data and evidence for gender policies, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), in collaboration with National Statistics Office of Georgia, organized the 10th Global Forum on Gender Statistics in Tbilisi, Georgia from 1 to 3 October 2025. The Forum was an opportunity to:

• review progress towards gender equality and women's empowerment, assess data availability, challenges, and countries' capacities to measure and monitor gender-relevant issues;
• discuss initiatives, tools, and methods for the collection, production, dissemination, and use of gender statistics;
• explore innovative approaches and initiatives for producing, analyzing, and utilizing data to monitor gender equality and women's empowerment; and
• strategize on maximizing the use of existing data, including through the integration of a gender lens into current data processes.

Please visit the forum website to learn more.

Previous forums

9^th global forum on gender statistics
Johannesburg, South Africa.

•  29-31 August 2023

7^th global forum on gender statistics
Tokyo, Japan

•  14-16 November 2018

6^th global forum on gender statistics
Helsinki, Finland

•  24-26 October 2016

5^th global forum on gender statistics
Aguascalientes, Mexico

•  3-5 November 2014

4^th global forum on gender statistics
Dead Sea, Jordan

•  27-29 March 2012

3^rd global forum on gender statistics
Manila, Philippines

•  11-13 October 2010

2^nd global forum on gender statistics
Accra, Ghana

•  26-28 January 2009

1^st global forum on gender statistics
Rome, Italy

•  10-12 December 2007