International Conference on the Millennium Development Goals Statistics

1. Ðì SA International Conference on the Millennium Development Goals Statistics National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia «Improvement of Data Availability for MDGs of Armenia» 1-3 October 2007, Manila, Philippines

2. General • The Statistical System of the Republic of Armenia is centralized and financed from the state budget. • Mission: to compile and publish statistics for public use. • Statistics Armenia is comprised of the Central Statistical Office and 11 Marz (regional) Agencies of Statistics. • The Supreme Body of Governance: State Council on Statistics consisting of 7 members and authorized to accept normative legal acts on statistics. • Head: President of the National Statistical Service of RA, who at the same time holds the post of the Chairman of the State Council on Statistics. • The Head and 6 members of the Council are appointed for 6 year terms by the RA President` s Decree.

3. Main Functions • to collect, process, summarize, analyze and publish statistical data, • to cooperate with state and local self-government bodies in collection of statistical information. • to develop and improve statistical methodologies, • to coordinate data collection according to international standards and classifications, • to organize statistical surveys, • to carry out population census every 10 years, • to establish, maintain and update the business-register, • to provide users with statistical information, • to ensure the transparency and access to aggregated statistical information, • to cooperate with international organizations and national statistical offices.

4. Position within the Public Administration • Administrative position: the National Statistical Service of RA is a specialized state management body implementing functions aimed at the public interest that is independent from other state and local self-government bodies. • The Staff is united administrative institution consisting of functional and territorial units. Staff members are civil servants. • The activity is based on the state statistical work programs. Three-year state statistical work program is approved by the Parliament of RA as a Law, while the annual program – by the State Council on Statistics.

5. International Classifications and Standards • NACE Rev.1 • CPA,PRODCOM • ISCO-88 • ISCED • HS/CN • ICD-10 • Armenia has become a subscriber to the IMFGeneral Data Dissemination System (GDDS) since 29 March 2001. On November 7 the Republic of Armenia became the 54th subscriber to the IMF Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS).

6. MDGs • It is not a secret that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the UN in September 2000 are the most comprehensive and worldwide program of the 21st Century. As articulated in the Millennium Development Declaration, the Millennium Development Goals are benchmarks for progress towards a vision of development, peace and human rights, guided by “certain fundamental values … essential to international relations in the twenty-first century”. • To implement the program a serious role is also preserved for statisticians both at international and national levels.

7. MDGs • In this respect, a big importance is attached to the program work of the National Statistical Offices of countries in the sphere of formation of accounting systems of the MDGs indicators, as well as exchange of statistical data and metadata with international organizations. It is extremely important to intensify a methodological coordination work by international organizations and to increase their status in this sphere. The work of countries statistical offices aimed at the formation and coordination of information sources of the MDGs indicators is essentially important at the national level.

8. MDGs • The last task in transition and developing countries is still remaining sharp, conditioned by the fact that those countries have still not finished the processes of formation of administrative registers. In particular, for Armenia as a transition country the compilations of the MDGs indicators by regions is still a serious task, because of registers at the community level have still not been formed. The compilation of the MDGs indicators is mostly implemented at the national level. Data collection on those indicators is implemented by statistical work programs that are a basis for statistical activities within the country.

9. MDGs and PRSP • The MDGs indicators have also been reflected in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Program (PRSP) adopted by the Government of Armenia in 2003, the goals of which are also benchmarked for achievement by 2015. • The MDG-based PRSP has been designed by the Government of Armenia with the support of international organizations and experts. • NGOs have largely been involved in that work. There were large-scale discussions on PRSP draft by the civil society. • When defining the PRSP monitoring indicators, a numerous statistical indicators have been taken into account, particularly results of household surveys conducted by the National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia. The policy developed based on that monitoring enabled to reduce poverty from 56.1% in 1999 to 29.8% in 2005.

10. The main goals are: • Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger • Achieve universal primary education • Promote gender equality and empowerment of women • Reduce child mortality • Improve maternal health • Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases • Ensure environmental sustainability • Develop a global partnership for development.

11. Status of the MDGs Indicators • MDGs Indicators – 48 • Armenia MDGs Indicators for 2006 – 36, out of which • Compiled by administrative registers – 16 • Compiled by the National Statistical Service - 20

12. Data Collection Sources • ILCS – Integrated Living Conditions Survey • DHS – Demographic and Health Survey • LFS – Labour Force Survey • 2001 Population Census • NSS – National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia • AR – Administrative Register

13. STATISTICAL SYSTEM State Council on Statistics of RA State Statistical Work Programs National Statistical Service of RA Government, other state bodies International organizations Mass media Regional Statistical Agencies State bodies Local self-government institutions Regional government bodies Legal persons (institutions, organizations), Natural persons (individual entrepreneurs), Households, other persons Preliminary data providers (Respondents) Business Public organizations Science and education Individuals, researches, citizens Information flows in the Armenian Statistical System and its actors USERS

14. Register of Entrepreneurial Rights (State Register Legal Persons) Crime Register (RA Police and other state bodies) Tax Register Customs Register Links with Administrative Registers Environment Register (Ministry of Nature Protection of RA) Register of diseases and health sphere (Ministry of Health of RA) National Statistical Service (statistical registers) Register Science and Education (Ministry of Science and Education of RA) Employment and Unemployment Register (State Service of Employment of RA) Civil Status Register (RA Bodies of Civil Status Registration, Passport Unit of RA Police) Register of External Passenger Turnover (Migration Agency of RA) Monetary -credit and Bank Register (Central Bank of RA) Population Register (social) (Ministry of Labour and Social Affaires of RA and other bodies) Register of State and Municipality Revenues and Expenditures (RA Treasure) Insurance Market Register (Central Bank of RA) Territorial Registers (regions and municipalities) Social Insurance Register (State Fund of Social Insurance of RA) Securities Register (Central Bank of RA) Agriculture Register (Ministry of Agriculture of RA) Registers of quasi-fiscal Spheres (energy, gas, water, communications) Property Rights Register (State Cadastre Committee of RA) Other Administrative Statistical Registers (by types of economic activities) Air Sphere Register (Main Civil Aviation of RA) Existing Not established yet

15. Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Target 1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1a day

16. Target 2. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

17. Goal 2. Achieve universal primary educationTarget 3.Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

18. Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower womenTarget 4.Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015

19. Goal 4. Reduce child mortalityTarget 5.Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

20. Goal 5. Improve maternal healthTarget 6.Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal

21. Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseasesTarget 7.Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

24. Target 8.Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

25. Goal 7. Ensure environmental sustainabilityTarget 9.Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources

26. Target 10.Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation

27. Target 11.By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

28. Goal 8. Develop a global partnership for development

29. Target 15.Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term

30. Target 16.In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth

31. Target 18.In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

32. Challenges • To form information sources ( in particular, formation of administrative registers at the community level) • To consider and use alternative measures and data sources • To ensure disaggregated data by national and sub-national levels • To estimate the data quality • To reduce data gaps, inconsistencies • To strengthen the statistical capacity building • To improve methodologies, definitions and methods for calculating key development indicators • To improve the coverage, transparency, timeliness and reporting on all indicators • To improve the contents and structure of metadata • To improve knowledge of users and producers of MDGs • To improve the coordination among agencies inside the country and international agencies, between countries and international agencies, and between international agencies • To intensify the international cooperation towards unification of the MDGs indicators methodology, data compilation and dissemination.

33. NSS RA strategies • To develop a program for MDGs activity • To increase a capacity to produce the data required for the MDG indicators • To increase the NSSRA`s capacity for providing timely and accurate data for MDGs monitoring and reporting • To include MDGs (tables/formats) in statistical reports on social and economic situation of the country to assist in monitoring MDGs • To prepare and publish “The Millennium Development Goals” Statistical Report • To post MDGs on the national statistics website • To introduce software, in particular Devinfo • To improve and make closer cooperation with administrative registers • To implement activities to form other respondents.

34. Library and Internet • The library is rich with all the statistical products of the NSS, statistical publications of other countries and international organizations, methodological handbooks, text-books, legal documents, etc. • The statistics library is open to the general public. • Library`s electronic catalogue is accessible from the Internet. • Internet: http://www.armstat.am

35. Thank you NATIONAL STATISTICAL SERVICEREPUBLIC OF ARMENIA Republic ave.3 Government HouseYerevan 0010Republic of Armenia Telephone: (37410) 524 213Fax: (37410) 521 921 E-mail: armstat@sci.am Internet: http://www.armstat.am