The United Nations World Data Forum has launched the programme and registration for its 2018 Forum, taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 22-24 October. Over 1,500 data experts from more than 100 countries are expected for the Forum, including national statisticians, data scientists from the private sector and academia, international organizations, and civil society groups.

The world is not on track to meet the global energy targets for 2030 set as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but real progress is being made in certain areas – particularly expansion of access to electricity in least developed countries, and industrial energy efficiency, according to the latest report by five global authorities on energy, including the Statistics Division of UN DESA.



“Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report,” launched at the Sustainable Energy for All Forum today, is t

On our path to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with 169 targets and 232 global indicators to track the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global data community is facing one of the greatest challenges of all times. And to meet it, a “revolution” of the current statistical system is underway.

More than 120 chief statisticians and data experts from across the world joined together in a jam-packed UN Headquarters conference room, as the 49th Session of the UN Statistical Commission kicked off on 6 March 2018. At the core of the Commission’s work – to produce better data to help people around the globe live better lives.

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