Significant efforts are required to strengthen national statistical capacities to provide the necessary data and statistics to monitor progress in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Funding the modernization efforts of national statistical systems is essential.
The Addis Agenda specifically:
- Commits to enhance capacity building support to developing countries, including LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS [to increase and use high-quality, timely and reliable disaggregated data]
- Commits to provide international cooperation, including through financial and technical support, to further strengthen the capacity of national statistical authorities and bureaux
Latest developments
The United Nations Statistical Commission and its High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for Statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are at the centre of efforts to strengthen national statistical systems by establishing a global partnership for sustainable development data. One example for strengthening the core capacities of NSSs is the joint project of the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNSD) and the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which aims to make SDG indicators available to a broad audience and to strengthen countries’ capacity in their compilation and use in 20 countries in Africa and Asia.
Read more on capacity building efforts to make national statistical systems fit for purpose here.
The Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data (CTGAP), adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2017, lays out a set of actions for transforming national statistical systems to address and meet the data needs of the 2030 Agenda. According to recent estimates, the cost for support for data and statistical systems for the full implementation of CTGAP through 2030 is approximately $5.6 billion per year for 75 low- and lower-middle-income countries and 69 upper-middle-income countries. An estimated $4.3 billion (77 per cent) of the total could be covered by domestic resources, leaving a financing gap of $1.3 billion (23 per cent) per year to be filled from external sources. As of 2017, total official development assistance for data and statistics was $689 million, approximately half of the amount needed.
Read more on funding for data for sustainable development here.