Preface#
The present Handbook on Management and Organization of National Statistical Systems is the fourth edition of the Handbook of Statistical Organization series published by The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). The first issue was circulated in 1954, and close to three decades later, in 1980, UNSD published a second edition, followed in 2003 by the third one. Since its first edition, the Handbook was not meant to be followed in a prescriptive manner. Instead, it was designed to guide chief statisticians and senior managers of statistical organizations to maintain and develop a statistical capacity that is fit for purpose and create a broad and vibrant evidence-based culture within and beyond the national statistical system.
The Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data[1] acknowledges that monitoring the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and related regional and national development plans requests national statistical systems to produce an extensive range of additional high-quality, granular, and timely statistics and indicators. To address the emerging needs for data and statistics while complying with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics as endorsed by the General Assembly in 2014, producers of statistics need to modernise and transform their institutional and organizational frameworks as well as revisit their data sources and productions processes. More recently, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the 74th UN General Assembly urged the Member States to build and sustain resilient, inclusive and integrated data and statistical systems, under the leadership of national statistical offices, to respond to the increased and urgent data demands in times of sanitary crises and disaster and ensure a path towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Accordingly, the fourth edition targets developing countries, including least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing States (SIDs) and landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), to provide guidance and inform statistical organizations on critical issues and topics. Compared to the previous versions, this edition includes guidance on addressing pressing data needs while embracing the data and technological revolution in partnership with the entire national data community. Designed as a living document, this Handbook, consisting of 16 chapters, numerous annexes and a glossary, will be updated annually to reflect recent success stories, adopted guidelines and methodologies, and update weblinks, whereas more substantive alterations of the content and structure of the Handbook may occur at larger intervals.
At its forty-eighth session, in 2017, the UN Statistical Commission, considering the changing circumstances in the data eco-system, recommended the third edition of the Handbook of Statistical Organization, issued in 2003, be updated. Consequently, a Drafting Team composed of eminent experts led by UNSD began to work on the update of the Handbook. The Drafting Team started with surveying chief statisticians and other managers of statistical organizations on how the upcoming Handbook could best address their needs. In terms of governance, an advisory group, composed of representatives from twelve national statistical offices, eight international organizations, and the five UN Regional Commissions, was established to guide the drafting team at regular intervals or upon request.
The following year, the Commission approved the outline and structure of the upcoming Handbook, including detailed annotations on each proposed chapter and underlying sections. The Commission also suggested that the updating process be complemented, at the regional and subregional levels, by a series of thematic conferences on Managing a Statistical Organization in Times of Change. The objective of these Conferences targeting chief statisticians and senior managers of statistical organizations was to allow national best practices and challenges to be identified and eventually inform the fourth edition of the Handbook. However, due to sanitary measures and travel restrictions related to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, only the African Thematic Conference (🔗), the Caribbean Thematic Conference (🔗) and the Asian Thematic Conference (🔗) have been held.
A draft version of the Handbook was released on the UNSD wiki platform in January 2021 for a last round of consultation. The same year, the fifty-second session of the Commission enacted the final version of the Handbook on Management and Organization of National Statistical Systems and insisted on the swift transfer of the fourth edition to an interactive and user-friendly web solution. The Commission also endorsed the proposed mechanisms to keep the Handbook a living document and suggested these revisions be supported by the Advisory Group and, when needed, informed through regional and sub-regional Thematic Conferences.
On behalf of UNSD, I thank Mr Heinrich Brüngger, Mr Jan Byfuglien, Mr Michael Colledge, Ms Margarita Guerrero, Ms Heli Jeskanen-Sundstrom, Mr Marko Kristof, Mr Hallgrímur Snorrason, and Mr Trevor Fletcher for sharing their expertise and contributing to this endeavour as members of the Drafting Team. For its valuable role in supporting the overall drafting process, I extend sincere appreciation to the Advisory Group comprising the statistical authorities of Brazil, Columbia, Ghana, Kenya, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Suriname, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the State of Palestine, as well as the statistical entities of FAO, ILO, UNCTAD, the Asian Development Bank, Eurostat, Open Data Watch, PARIS21, the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and the five regional commissions of the United Nations.
The Handbook on Management and Organization of National Statistical Systems benefitted from the UN Development Account Tenth tranche on Statistics and Data; an innovative Programme implemented jointly by ten UN secretariat organizations capitalizing on their technical capacities and comparative advantages. Moreover, let me express my most profound appreciation to Eurostat for its generous financial contributions and UNITAR for its support in converting this Handbook into a user-friendly web publication. I would also like to mention EFTA, the multilateral development banks, and other regional organizations for their appreciated sponsorship in drafting specific chapters of the Handbook and the organization of Thematic Conferences. Last but not least, I want to thank the Data Innovation and Capacity Building Branch at UNSD and, notably, Mr Gabriel Gamez, Inter-regional Adviser, and Ms Indira Persaud for leading the overall revision process, including the work of the Drafting Team, as well as Ms Youlia Antonova, Head of Programme Management Unit, for her instrumental support.
Comprising 16 chapters, well written and illustrated, and complemented by informative annexes and a glossary, the fourth edition of the Handbook is available as a user-friendly e-book. Thus, it can be consulted online on various electronic devices or downloaded and printed in pdf format directly from the UNSD website. Chapters can be consulted independently as each offers a specific focus with links to additional guidelines, best practices and examples. The responsibility for the final version of the Handbook, including any errors or omissions, rests with UNSD. I sincerely hope that the guidance provided herein will be useful and contribute to developing and securing agile and resilient national statistical systems compiling and disseminating trusted statistics and indicators. I look forward to the continuous collaboration and support from our member states and the international statistical community in keeping this Handbook a living document. Please send any comments, suggestions, links, good practices or success stories that could further improve this compendium through the UNSD wiki platform (🔗) or by email to statistics-handbook@un.org.
Stefan Schweinfest
Director, Statistics Division Department of Economic and Social Affairs