Sixth meeting on demographic and social statistics for Arab countries

Participants in the sixth meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Demographic and Social Statistics agreed on a set of outcomes. They issued the following recommendations on the expected activities of national statistical offices and ESCWA.

     I- Recommendations to national statistical offices

1. Intensify cooperation and coordination between statistical offices and data producers within the national statistical system, and relevant regional and international institutions to complete the necessary data series and calculate estimates by national statistical offices in coordination with specialized international organizations involved in calculating indicators, and produce data according to the agreed and approved methodology (in the absence of data);
2. Continue to update data on the special electronic platform to complete the ESCWA questionnaire for the periodic collection and exchange of statistical data online from countries and national statistical offices to incorporate such data in ESCWA databases and disseminate them;
3. Attach the utmost importance to providing ESCWA with the required data for the agreed core list of indicators, through the approved mechanism and through statistical offices in accordance with national procedures;
4. Ensure that indicators cover all resident populations, including refugees and migrants by nationality, and disaggregate data, where possible, to obtain an accurate description of the entire population, by gender, age, geographical location, disability status and income;
5. Intensify efforts to integrate and use international standard definitions with a view to producing high-quality comparable indicators;
6. Continue the formulation of national action plans using the ESCWA regional strategic framework for civil registration and vital statistics (2021–2025) to achieve progress in this area and build on the framework until 2030;
7. Consolidate and coordinate efforts in the development of statistical capacities for the production of demographic and social indicators;
8. Continue to conduct and document censuses, exchange expertise, participate in the proposed working groups for the implementation of the 2030 census round and present updates on census implementation methods;

9. Intensify joint statistical work between countries facing crises, promote the exchange of good practices between them, and provide them with advice and technical support.

   II- Recommendations to the ESCWA secretariat

   1. Continue to coordinate regional and national efforts to collect data from questionnaires, provide support to reduce the data gap upon request, and take advantage of global events to update and partially disseminate data through regional press releases;

   2. Strengthen cooperation and coordination with the League of Arab States, specialized agencies and international and regional organizations to consolidate efforts and reduce duplication of activities, develop statistical capacity-development programmes that include training programmes, workshops and technical support activities, and validate work methodologies, where applicable;

   3. Continue to organize trainings and workshops for national statistical capacity development, as requested by Arab countries in various areas, including population projections and estimates, the use of administrative records for statistical purposes, and income and expenditure at the local level, especially in countries facing crises that hinder the implementation of official statistical activities;

   4. Extend the regional strategic framework for civil registration and vital statistics for Arab countries until 2030 in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, continue to implement the framework guidelines and assess progress, and strengthen the coordination of the regional working group for civil registration;

   5. Adopt the recommendations emanating from the regional workshop on the mid-term review of the regional strategic framework for civil registration and vital statistics (2021–2025);

   6. Serve as a secretariat in following up on the activities of the proposed population and housing census working group for Arab countries that will be chaired by one country in the 2030 census round, and establish a small working group for countries implementing a combined census in the next three years, defining its tasks to coordinate joint regional action during the 2030 census round (and assist in the search for census funding for low-income countries, whenever possible);

   7. Serve as a secretariat in following up on the activities of the statistical support working group for countries facing instability;

   8. Support the reconstruction of post-conflict statistical systems and ensure business continuity and data flow within statistical systems in countries facing conflict and humanitarian crises.