The eleventh United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names and the thirtieth session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names concluded on 17 and 18 August, at United Nations Headquarters in New York.



A total of 278 delegates from 67 Member States and observer organizations came together over a total of 10 days and decided on national and international geographical names standardization, a new organization structure and working methods, and a strengthened substantive relationship with the Committee of Experts on Global

Whether travelling to one of the world’s 1,017 places called San Francisco or delivering disaster relief to the feet of Sagarmatha – also known as Qomolangma, Shengmu Feng and Mount Everest – standardized geographical names can mean the difference between “lost in translation” and getting lost.

Measuring each country’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will require innovative approaches to collecting and integrating data. We cannot keep the 2030 Agenda’s promise of leaving no one behind if we do not count everyone first.

The 2030 Agenda’s integrated approach to global problems ushered in a new era in thinking about sustainable development.

Two years after the Commission created the Inter-agency Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), the global statistical community has come together to fulfill the promise of delivering a global indicator framework for the 2030 Agenda as requested by the UN General Assembly.

By adopting the SDGs indicator framework today, the international community has a robust structure in place for keeping track of our efforts to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

With the help of the global SDG indicator framework, the global statistical community will be ab

On the eve of the 48th Statistical Commission, UN DESA's Statistics Division organized a High-Level Forum on Official Statistics, focusing on the importance of cooperation between all members of the international statistical system.

In a world as interconnected as ours, and with an eye on achieving sustainable development for all, the forum touched upon the possibilities for improving the production and utilization of data to follow up and review our progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly, noted that

“It is very fitting that for your 70th anniversary session you are meeting – for the first time – here at the heart of the United Nations, in the General Assembly Hall,” said Lenni Montiel, UN DESA’s Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, as he addressed the opening of the 48th session of the UN Statistical Commission today.

Looking back at when the work of the Commission began in 1947, Mr.

Statisticians, civil society and private sector gathered together on 3 March for a seminar on open data ahead of the 48^th session of the UN Statistical Commission taking place on 7-10 March.

Since its first session in 1947, the UN Statistical Commission has brought together senior statisticians from across the globe to make sure that all nations speak the same statistical language, using harmonized data. The goal has been clear from the start: getting the numbers right to help improve the lives of people around the world. And today, statistics are more vital than ever before.

The inaugural United Nations World Data Forum is concluding today with the launch of a global plan for better data to improve people’s lives, and new ideas and solutions to boost the collaboration, resources and policies needed to put it into action.

The Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data, which will be adopted by countries at the UN Statistical Commission when it meets in March of this year, was prepared with inputs from the global statistical community and data experts from a wider range of stakeholders.

“The UN World Data Forum is the

With only 41 per cent of countries regularly producing data on violence against women and only 13 per cent of countries having a dedicated gender statistics budget, the first-ever United Nations World Data Forum today explored ways to close these data gaps.



“Gender statistics are critical for setting priorities, planning interventions and assessing their impacts,” Purna Sen, the Director of Policy Division at UN Women, told a panel discussion.