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In the 10 years that we have been producing the
World Development Indicators, the world of development statistics has grown larger and deeper. It has also become better integrated. The demand for statistics to measure progress and demonstrate the effectiveness of development programs has stimulated growing interest in the production and dissemination of statistics. And not just in the traditional domains of debt, demographics, and national accounts, but in new areas such as biodiversity, information, communications, technology, and measures of government and business performance. In response
World Development Indicators has continued to grow and change. |
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In 1999 members of the statistical community, recognizing that the production of sound statistics for measuring progress is a global responsibility, established the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the Twenty-first Century (PARIS21) to strengthen statistical capacity at all levels. In 2000 the United Nations Millennium Summit called on all countries to work toward a quantified, time-bound set of development targets, which became the Millennium Development Goals. |
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In the five years since the Millennium Summit, the idea of working toward specific goals has evolved into a general strategy of managing for development results. Countries are reporting on progress toward the Millennium Development Goals and monitoring their own results using a variety of economic and social indicators. Bilateral and multilateral development agencies are incorporating results into their own management planning and evaluation systems and using new indicators to set targets for harmonizing their joint work programs. All of these efforts depend on statistics. |
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So, what has been done to improve the quality and availability of statistics? A lot. Supported by five donors, the Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building has provided $20 million in grants for 86 projects, many to create national statistical development strategies. Several countries, recognizing the need for large-scale investments in their statistical systems, have taken out loans or credits to finance them. PARIS21 has conducted advocacy and training workshops around the world to strengthen national statistical systems. The International Comparison Program has more than 100 countries participating in the largest ever global collection of price data. The Health Metrics Network, sponsored by the World Health Organization and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is now under way. The United Nations Children’s Fund launched a new round of data collection through its Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys. And the program of Demographic and Health Surveys, funded largely by the United States, continues to operate in many countries.
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To accelerate global cooperation in statistical capacity building, the World Bank will provide $7.5 million a year toward implementing the Marrakech Action Plan for Statistics (MAPS), a grant-funded program. In its first year MAPS will fund the International Household Survey Network to harmonize, document, and provide technical support to survey programs everywhere. It is also funding work by the United Nations Statistics Division to prepare for the 2010 round of censuses; work on education by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s Institute for Statistics; a project on migration by the International Labour Organization; and work on measuring slums by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. And through PARIS21 it is supporting a pilot program to accelerate the production of key development indicators in low-income countries. |
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National statistical offices and international and regional agencies now find themselves at the center of attention. The challenge is to maintain the momentum in producing more and better quality data. The fruits of today’s efforts will be harvested in the years to come. When they are, you will see them here in the tables of
World Development Indicators. |
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Shaida Badiee |
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Director |
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Development Data Group |
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