Reviewing the United Nations Demographic Yearbook System: Towards Effective Collection and Dissemination of Statistics W

1. Expert Group Meeting toReview the United Nations Demographic Yearbook System10-14 November 2003New York The Demographic Yearbook System in Review: Towards an effective Collection and Dissemination of Demographic Statistics Worldwide A Work Plan for 2004-2014 Demographic and Social Statistics Branch United Nations Statistics Division

2. Outcome of the Review(Collection of data) Key areas for change and intervention include: • Content and format of the questionnaires • Data collection procedures, including timing, medium, and follow-up mechanisms • Motivating and keeping countries (and other data providers) engaged • Extending the coverage of the system, with respect to country involvement

3. Outcome of the Review (cont.)(Service and Outreach to client) • Broadening the range and variety of services provided • Enlarging the circle of audience, in terms of both diversity and number of users and their uses of the statistics • Strengthening feedback mechanisms and relationship with data providers

4. Experts views and suggestions The meeting has over these couple of days: • Stated concerns • Clarified the constraints and barriers to data transfer from countries to the Demographic Yearbook system • Expressed views on what changes are needed to enhance the efficacy of the system.

5. Key messages Rethink the role of the Demographic Yearbook system • Modify the mode of operation – Partnerships • Expand medium of operation – employ all media of communication for direct interaction with countries and providing the required services • Move from data to information • Be proactive – seek out and seek the views

6. Experts views and suggestions • Set up partnerships in: • Collection of data • Dissemination of statistics • Capacity building • Maintain more consistent direct interaction with countries and engage countries in continuous dialogue (as both the providers and users of statistics)

7. Experts views and suggestions (cont.) • Adopt a flexible approach • In the content, form and medium of data collection • In medium of data dissemination • Work towards more comparable and comprehensive set of basic demographic and social statistics (aim to reduce footnotes) • Develop a minimum set of tables which will cover most countries • Redesign questionnaires adopting a nested approach

8. Experts views and suggestions (cont.) • In data dissemination – think access, with respect to: • Format, content and medium (with querying possibility) • Flow of continuous information – use of internet • Flexible to meet different needs • Include analysis on coverage, comparability, and quality issues • Access to the database for national statistical offices) and limited access to the public • Free access to data

9. Goals of the Programme(In the long term) • Statistics that are disseminated at the international level adequately reflect the state and availability of statistics in the respective countries • Demographic Yearbook system acts as a portal for the dissemination of official national demographic and social statistics at the international level

10. Goals of the Programme(In the long term) • As a service to national statistical systems — to distribute their statistics to interested partner international agencies, regional commissions, the Population Division and other parts of the United Nations system as needed • As a service to data users — to make readily available at the international level, to a wide range of users, national demographic and social statistics and easily accessible in formats that are acceptable to a variety of users

11. Specific Objectives • Strengthen national statistical systems to participate and contribute to the system • Systematically address and cater to the statistical needs of national agencies that provide statistics to the Demographic Yearbook system • Ensure that statistics collected and disseminated are comprehensive with respect to the number of countries and areas covered in the system as a whole, and also in the details given by the specific tables

12. Specific Objectives (cont.) • Respond to emerging statistical needs of users, by providing timely and reliable data that reflect national statistical capacities for an increasing number of countries and areas • Effectively reach out to current and potential users to inform and provide feedback on data availability, their uses and limitations

13. Establish a schedule for administering the set of Demographic Yearbook questionnaires Circulate to countries/areas, information about the activities of Demographic Yearbook system and the services that are available Review and reconcile differences and inconsistencies in the Principles and Recommendations Review and revise the Demographic Yearbook questionnaires and produced them in all six official languages of the United Nations Make the Demographic Yearbook questionnaires available to countries and areas in the most accessible format of their choice (i.e., in print, on diskettes, by e-mail, through internet) Objective 1: Greater and consistent participation of countries

14. Objective 2: Assess and systematically address the statistical needs of national agencies as well as other international offices • Get informed about the preferences of countries and areas with respect to:- language and medium of the questionnaires to be administered; preferred form of transfer of their data, the minimum set of data that are available and/or can be provided, and major constraints • Determine ways of addressing specific needs and constraints of countries • Update information on how changes in the system are addressing the concerns and needs of the countries and areas • Establish coordination arrangements in data collection/data sharing, and extended existing ones, with relevant international and regional organizations

15. Objective 3: Collect and disseminate comprehensive statistics • Assess the degree of completeness of the coverage of the available data and data gaps • Produce and circulate to countries and areas, country sheets reflecting data availability, receipt of completed questionnaires and responses to data requests • Launch a campaign for receiving national statistics publications, including census reports and related information, and where applicable, electronic files on tables published in these reports • Institute a system for extracting statistics from published sources to supplement data provided by countries

16. Objective 4: Develop a flexible system that responds to current, as well as emerging statistical needs • Assess the needs of a cross-section of current and potential users of the Demographic Yearbook system, including data requirements and specification of format and media of dissemination • Produce the variety of products that would respond to different user needs and purposes • Have a cleaned-up and functioning database system that is accessible to users • Published a special issue on each of the topics on which Demographic Yearbook system collects data

17. Objective 5: Increase utilization of data through an effective outreach to current and potential users Ascertain the characteristics of current users, and ways in which they are being and/or can be reached Institute mechanism for providing feedback to countries and areas on a continuous basis on their inputs

18. Objective 5: Increase utilization of data through an effective outreach to current and potential users(cont.) • Exploit the opportunity presented by the different professional meetings/conferences to interact with users and provide updated information on the Demographic Yearbook system • Make greater use of the Internet to publicise the Demographic Yearbook system, as well as serve the statistical needs of users

19. Thank you