The 42nd session of the Statistical Commission opened today at the United Headquarters in New York and will run until 25 February. The event will discuss the advancement of the global statistical system and the coordination of international statistical activities.

The Statistical Commission is responsible for compiling and disseminating global statistical information, developing standards and norms for statistical activities, and supporting countries’ efforts to strengthen their national statistical systems. Statistics have always been a very important role in social and economic development.

To increase public awareness and promote the importance of statistics, the first World Statistics Day was held on 10 October 2010. The event celebrated the achievements of statistics, core values of service, integrity and professionalism.

At the opening of this year’s session, the Commission discussed the benefits and outcomes of the events held in honor of the World Statistics Day. They Commission also agreed on the need for an international Statistics Day celebration in regular intervals, debating on whether the period should be every two or five years.

The representative from Tanzania emphasized the importance of the World Statistics Day stating, “we need to increase public awareness… and promote efforts of all stakeholders.”

In addition to the World Statistics Day, the Commission will discuss different aspects of statistics, including gender, education, energy, tourism, price, health, education and the environment.

The discussions will highlight progress, innovations, recent developments and planned activities made in the different fields. Furthermore, the methodology of obtaining the data and the rationale and benefits of these methodologies will be explained to the Commission. Using the data, Member States will discuss how to improve the data collection and planned activities.