A
short report on the United Nations Statistical
Commission
The United Nations Statistical
Commission held its thirtieth session in New
York from 1 to 5 March 1999. Although the official
report of the session is still under preparation,
we provide here some selected highlights. More
information will appear in a subsequent Newsletter.
The United Nations
Statistical Commission, which has previously
met biennially, adopted a resolution recommending
to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
that it hold annual sessions of four days
each, within existing resources, and disband
its existing inter-sessional Working Group
on International Statistical Programmes and
Coordination. The motivation for this resolution,
which attracted widespread sponsorship and
unanimous support, stemmed mainly from the
perceived enhancement of the Commission's
role in recent years, the increased pace of
events calling for the Commission's action,
and the fact that almost all other functional
commissions of ECOSOC already meet annually.
The Commission had spirited
discussions on two items in particular: the
International Comparison Programme (ICP),
and the Special Data Dissemination Standard
(SDDS) promulgated by the International Monetary
Fund (IMF). The ICP was discussed on the basis
of a consultant's evaluation (document number
E/CN.3/1999/8), available on the Web site
of the United Nations Statistics Division
(UNSD) at the following URL: http://www.un.org/Depts/unsd/statcom/8-e.pdf. The evaluation exercise confirmed that
the programme served several important needs
but suffered from a number of administrative
and financial as well as conceptual problems.
Opinion was divided between terminating the
Programme and injecting the necessary funds
to remedy its shortcomings. The matter was
remitted for further study.
The Commission also expressed
serious concerns about the proposed extension
of the SDDS in the area of external debt statistics,
which might further divert scarce statistical
resources from other national priority areas.
Echoing similar concerns, which were expressed
also at ESCAP statistical bodies, the Commission
pronounced itself dissatisfied with the existing
consultation process on the SDDS between the
IMF and national statistical offices.
Among the many other issues discussed by the Commission,
of particular interest to ESCAP were:
national accounts;
international trade statistics,
including electronic commerce;
vital statistics;
harmonization and rationalization
of development indicators;
poverty statistics;
international classifications.
Recommendations on two
topics -- guiding principles for technical
cooperation in statistics, and promotion
of best practices in official statistics
- on which the Committee on Statistics on
its eleventh session had given inputs, were
endorsed by the Commission.
Mr. M. D. Asthana of India, a member of the
Bureau of the ESCAP Committee on Statistics,
was elected Rapporteur of the Commission session.
The ESCAP Committee on Statistics itself was
represented at the session by Mr Paul Cheung
of Singapore, the Chairperson of the Committee.
For further information on the documents presented
at the session of the Statistical Commission,
readers can access them at the Web site of the
UNSD, http://www.un.org/Depts/unsd/statcom/statcom.htm,
where it is possible also to retrieve abundant
documentation on some of the past sessions.
Third
Meeting of Working Party on Application of New
Technology to Population Data, 7-9 January, Bali
The Working Party on the Application of New
Technology to Population Data held its third
meeting early this year, from 7 to 9 January.
The Meeting has focussed on issues regarding
population data capture, coding, verification
and workflow, as decided in the second meeting.
Below is a summary of its substantive proceedings
and some of the recommendations made by the
Meeting.
At the mid-term review of this project, in
July 1998, it was decided that a workshop on
the Application of New Technology to Population
Data be convened in October 1999. Discussions
were held at the Bali meeting on the production
of the guidelines and the materials to be utilized
for the workshop.
In brief, it was agreed that the guidelines
should be restricted to new technology and have
a sharp focus. Other recommendations included
considerations on the usefulness of the guidelines,
particularly on how they could be helpful to
developing countries, and also the need to attach
a glossary of technical terms and acronyms.
A plan of division of work was decided between
the contributor countries considering their
particular areas of responsibility and the schedule
of the contributions.
In reviewing the results of the survey conducted
by the secretariat on application of Information
Technology (IT) to population data, the Working
Party noted that it provided valuable information
and a useful analysis of the state of IT application
in the region.
The Working Party praised the quality of the
contributed papers made available to the meeting
and noted that they formed a significant repository
of applied technology information that should
be made available in formats required by the
developing countries.
Many of the papers presented at the third as
well as the previous two meetings of the Working
Party are available at the Statistics Division
Web site at the URL: http://www.unescap.org/stat/pop-it/index.htm
where it is possible to access more comprehensive
information about the activities carried on
and planned. The contents of the Web site are
constantly updated along with the progress of
the work, interested readers are invited to
access the Web site from time to time.
Joint
UNSD/ESCAP Training Seminar on International Merchandise
Trade Statistics, 22-26 March, Bangkok
The Training Seminar on International Merchandise
Trade Statistics for countries of the ESCAP
region jointly organized by the secretariat
of ESCAP and the United Nations Statistics Division
of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs
at Headquarters, was held in Bangkok from 22
to 26 March 1999 with funds provided from the
United Nations regular programme of technical
cooperation.
The Seminar was attended by 25 participants
from 21 members and associate members of ESCAP:
Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Islamic Republic
of Iran, Kazakhstan, Lao People's Democratic
Republic, Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal,
Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Singapore,
Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Viet Nam.
A representative of CESD-Communautaire (Centre
Européen pour la Statistique et le Développement
a.s.b.l.) also participated.
In their introductory speeches both the Deputy
Executive Secretary of ESCAP and the representative
of the United Nations Statistics Division underlined
the importance of international trade statistics,
in particular given the phenomenon of globalization,
which in the field of trade results in increasing
interdependence between countries. Given the
bilateral nature of statistics on international
trade, a great need was recognized for a broad
and speedy implementation of common concepts
and definitions, in order to meet the countries'
own needs as well as international comparability
of data.
The Seminar began with a detailed description
of the process concerning the collection, processing
and dissemination of international trade statistics
for all countries including those of the ESCAP
region. Organizations and government users were
briefed on the accessibility of the international
trade statistics managed by the UNSD.
Participants were informed about the background
and the process under which the second revision
of the International Merchandise Trade Statistics
(IMTS Rev.2) Concepts and Definitions was developed.
Participants were also given a detailed
presentation of the contents and recommendations
in IMTS Rev.2; furthermore, useful discussions
and clarifications on the practical applications
of the concepts and definitions took place.
The representative of CESD-Communautaire gave
a presentation on EUROTRACE, an approach based
on the software tool 'Eurotrace' for management
of external trade data, and the new approach
called EXTRADE. Participants had also some further
occasions to be briefed on other details on
the software system.
Participants exchanged information on
their respective activities in the field of
international trade statistics through presentation
of their country papers.
Conferences
/ Training opportunities / Other news
The
Measurement Of Electronic Commerce
ISI cutting edge conference, 6-8 December 1999,
Singapore
The Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS)
and the Centre for Management Innovation
and Technopreneurship (CMIT), National University
of Singapore are the joint organizers of an
international conference on the measurement
of electronic commerce (e-commerce) to be held
in Singapore from 6 to 8 December 1999.
The Conference is organized under the auspices
of the International Statistical Institute (ISI)
in collaboration with the Australian Bureau
of Statistics (ABS), the Berkeley Roundtable
on the International Economy, University of
California, Berkeley, and the Singapore National
Computer Board.
This Conference aims to address the lack of
standards in the measurement of the extent of
e-commerce. It is well recognized
that this phenomenon is widening but the
international statistical community has not
yet adopted any guidelines.
As noted on the Web site of the Singapore Department
of Statistics, "The Conference will provide
an important forum for statistical experts,
economists, public policy/market research analysts
and other specialists working in the area of
e-commerce to present papers to address wide-ranging
issues pertaining to the measurement of e-commerce
activities and their economic impact, including
definition, scope, measurement methodology,
data sources and international comparability".
Submissions are invited for full papers, research-in-progress
papers, and proposals for panels and other activities
pertaining to the conference theme as well as
other aspects of electronic commerce. Suggested
topics include, but are not limited to:
Definition and classification
of e-commerce
Information requirements
for public policy analysis of e-commerce
E-commerce measurement
methodologies
Data sources for collecting
statistics on e-commerce
International comparability
of measurement methodology.
Methodologies for assessing
the economic impacts of e-commerce
Emerging technologies
for monitoring e-commerce activities
Future directions for
e-commerce and their implications for measurement
The best papers from the conference will be
selected for publication in an international
journal on electronic commerce. Further information
is available at the Web site of the Singapore
Department of Statistics, http://www.singstat.gov.sg/EC/echome.html
Contact persons:
Ms Finna Wong
Research Analyst
Centre for Management of Innovation & Technopreneurship
Faculty of Business Administration
National University of Singapore
10 Kent Ridge Crescent
Singapore 119260
Tel: (65) 874-3046
Fax: (65) 775-3955
E-mail: cmtwongf@nus.edu.sg
Mr. James Wong
Assistant Director, Business Statistics Division
Department of Statistics
Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore
100 High Street, #05-01 The Treasury
Singapore 179434
Tel: (65) 332-7752
Fax: (65) 332-7171
E-mail: james_wong@singstat.gov.sg
Statistics
Bureau and Statistics Center in Japan
We have received an explanatory brochure
addressed to the general public from the Statistics
Bureau/Statistics Center, Management and Coordination
Agency, Government of Japan.
This kind of information is considered highly
useful in promoting statistical activities to
the general public through a broad presentation
of the organization and the most important features
of the statistical system in Japan. The role
of coordination of the Statistics Bureau is
well explained, and information on its promotion
of fundamental policies on statistics for Japan
and its relations with the international statistical
community is presented.
Readers are also provided with a general description
of the production of publications and surveys.
The same information is disseminated through
the Statistics Bureau/Statistical Centre Web
site, at the URLs :http://www.stat.go.jp/11.htm
(in English)
Internet
indicators in the 1998 issue of "Social Indicators
in Korea"
The 1998 issue of Social
Indicators in Korea, by the National Statistical
Office of the Republic of Korea, was issued
in December 1998. It provides among other things
statistics and indicators on Internet usage
in the country, which is a rather new topic
for statistical publications.
A closer look at the tables and figures provided
on this subject reveals that these sorts of
indicators are included in the more general
section of "Information and Telecommunication"
which does not limit its coverage to Internet
indicators only but reports on a wider range
of indicators.
The table "Average
Hour of Using PC & Internet per Week"
provides data disaggregated for the whole
country, urban and rural areas, males
and females, age groups, school levels, and
professional levels. Indicators are the distribution
of hours in several levels per week (less
than 7, from 7 to 14, from 14 to 21, ...,
35 and over), the average hours of using the
PC, and the average hours of using the Internet
and PC communication.
Source: NSO [Social Statistics
Survey]
The table "Purpose
of Using Internet & PC Communication"
provides data disaggregated for the same groups
as in the table "Average Hour of Using PC
& Internet per Week". It provides the
purpose of using the Internet and PC communication
according to several modalities (Getting information,
education, chatting, games, data&information,
home banking&shopping, e-mail, others).
Source: NSO [Social Statistics Survey]
The last specific table
on the Internet is the "Number of Internet
Hosts & Domains" providing data on
an annual basis since 1993. Data on the number
of hosts and domains are disaggregated
by academic institutes, private enterprises,
government and public investment organizations,
NT (Network) operating institutes, non-profit
institutes, research institutes, and regional
domains.
Source: Korea Network Information Center
These are only three of the tables presented
under the section on "Information and Telecommunication"
which abounds with information on other subjects
such as cellular phones, cable TV subscribers,
software sales, and much more.
The Report on the Social Statistics Survey,
only in Korean, is also on the NSO's Web site.
IT
courses at the Institute of Systems Science in
Singapore, with opportunities for distance learning.
The mission of the Institute of Systems Science
(ISS) is to facilitate the development
of a more competitive IT workforce and to act
as a catalyst to initiate innovative applications
of IT in organizations in Singapore.
Systems catalyst, a quarterly publication issued
by the ISS, describes the ISS' working and training
programmes, and most importantly it notes that
ISS has been providing training programmes for
some 390 participants from 50 developing countries.
ISS has been an active partner of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs (in Singapore) in delivering
a range of IT related courses under the Singapore
Cooperation Programme, the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), the Commonwealth Training
Programmes as well as other bilateral programmes
sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Besides IT Management, ISS also offers training
in Systems Development for Project Managers,
Project Management, Structured Analysis &
Design, Client/Server Application Development,
and Internet Services & Security.
Mr. Lim Swee Cheang, Director, announces through
"Systems catalyst" that ISS is preparing a new
initiative in telelearning, whose goal is to
make ISS education more available, innovative
and effective by using multimedia, new pedagogy
and distance learning technologies.
ISS can be contacted at the following address:
The Institute of Systems Science
National University of Singapore
31 Science Park Road
SNS hub
Singapore 117611
Tel. no. (065) 874-2020/874-2096
Fax no.(065) 778-2571
E mail: training@iss.nus.edu.sg
(general information) webmaster@iss.nus.edu.sg
(Webmaster)
Web site: http://www.iss.nus.edu.sg/
101
pages on Gender Statistics: Statistical Booklet
on Thai Women and Men, 1997
The National Statistical
Office of Thailand has issued a concise "Statistical
Booklet on Thai Women and Men 1997" to provide
general statistical data on several topics,
such as
Population
Household and family
Health
Education and Training
Work/Employment
Economic Status
Decision-Making
Crime and violence
The introduction of the booklet states that "Although
women's contribution in national socio-economic
development is crucial for Thai society, women
remain unequal partners and gain unequal benefit
from the development process. This is so mainly
because there is inadequate gender awareness in
the policy and planning process for national development
and women's roles are always stereotyped by social
values".
The response is gender statistics. "Gender
statistics can provide the right perception
of women's and men's roles in reality. They
help understand the actual situation of women
and men in society, and help demolish stereotypes".
After this introduction, which highlights the
role of statistics in gender concerns but may
be considered valid also in general, there follows
a chronological list of the main achievements
in women's development in Thai society.
Tables and series presented under the various
topics always provide a breakdown by sex, as
well as other breakdowns like urban/rural, age,
and so on. Data are provided up to 1995.
The booklet's reduced size seems designed to
meet a broader audience than that of professional
statisticians, and in this dissemination context
the booklet seems to meet its intended aim of
promoting a true view of women and men in Thai
society.
For more information, the booklet is distributed
by:
Statistical Data Bank and Information
Dissemination Division
National Statistical Office,
Larn Luang Road, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
Tel. (66 2) 281 0333 ext. 1200, 1211
Fax (66 2) 281 3814
AUSTRALIA:
Measuring Poverty and Living Standards, 19 July
- 3 September 1999. Seven-week-long course organized
by The Australian National University, Demography
Program, Research School of Social Sciences
The measurement of poverty is the subject
of this summer course to be taught by Professor
Peter McDonald, the aim being to review the
several approaches in poverty measurement which
are currently being considered by statisticians
worldwide. A uniform and unanimously adopted
theory does not currently exist.
During the course several measures will be
considered including basic needs, income and
full income, consumption-based measures, budget
standards measures, the spheres of life approach,
summary indicators of deprivation and community
consensus measures.
Consideration would be given to the definition
of the appropriate units of measurement (individuals,
income units, families, households) and, for
units consisting of more than one person, to
the specification of equivalence scales. A fundamental
issue is whether living standards can be measured
in terms of a single index or whether multiple
indicators are required.
Careful attention will be given to conceptual
issues in the measurement of living standards
such as absolute or relative measures.
Finally the short course considers policies
for poverty alleviation illustrating the use
of principles such as horizontal or vertical
equity, gender and interregional equity, efficiency
and simplicity.
Tuition fees are AUD 8,000 (7 weeks), while
other expenses for accommodation, living allowance/extras,
health insurance and establishment costs are
estimated by the university to be approximately
AUD 3,330.
For further information please contact:
Director, GSD or The Program Administrator
Fax: +61 2 6249 3031
E-mail: Grad.Demo@anu.edu.au
Publications
released by the Statistics Division
Foreign Trade Statistics
of Asia and the Pacific, 1992-1996
Asia-Pacific in Figures,
1998
Missions
of ESCAP Statistics Division Staff
Mr. Andrew J. Flatt, Director, Statistics
Division undertook missions to:
Singapore (12-14
and 20-21 January): To attend the working
session on best practices in statistics jointly
organized by the IMF and the UNSD and co-hosted
by the IMF Singapore Regional Training Institute
and the Singapore Department Statistics,
12-14 January 1999; and to attend the workshop
to finalize training materials conducted under
SIAP/UNDP project RAS/97/065 on statistics
for human development reports, 20-21 January
1999.
New York (1-10
March): To represent ESCAP at the thirtieth
session of the United Nations Statistical
Commission (1-5 March); and to participate
in the Expert Group Meeting on Development
Indicators held at Headquarters (8-10 March).
Mr. M. K. Siddiqui, Chief, Statistics
Development Section undertook a mission to:
Bali (4-9 January):
(i) To represent ESCAP at the Second Meeting
of the ASEAN Heads of Statistical Offices
(AHSOM); (ii) Along with Mr Ilpo Survo,
Programme Officer, to organize and service
the third meeting of the working party on
the application of new technology to population
data which was hosted by Statistics Indonesia
(BPS), Bali, 7-9 January 1999.
Ms Heidi Arbodela, Regional Adviser
on National Accounts, visited the following
countries;
Solomon Islands (8-26 February): To provide advisory services
on the compilation of national accounts.
Fiji (1-12 March):
To provide advisory services on the rebasing
of GDP and implementation of 1993 SNA.
Mr. Nuri M. Ozsever, ESCAP Regional
Adviser on Population Data Processing and Database
Management with the United Nations Population
Fund/Country Support Team for East and South-east
Asia (UNFPA/CST) in Bangkok visited the following
countries:
Indonesia (7-9
January): To act as a resource person at the
third meeting of the working party on the
application of new technology to population
data.
Indonesia (7-12
February): To assist the Central Bureau of
Statistics and the Ministry of Health in Analysis
of Reproductive Health and Gender Related
Data.
Mongolia (22 February-12
March): To assist the National Statistical
Office in further processing of the
1998 Reproductive Health Survey Data (RHS).
Ms Luisa T. Engracia, ESCAP Regional
Adviser on Population Statistics with UNFPA/CST
in Kathmandu visited the following countries:
Kazakhstan (14-18
January): To assist in organizing and conducting
a workshop for government to: (1) discuss
the proposed UNFPA country programme for 2000-2004
and (2) to identify priorities for UNFPA support
under the Population and Development Sub-programme.
Tajikistan (19-28
January): To, (1) present the findings of
the Country Population Assessment for Tajikistan,
(2) discuss the proposed UNFPA country programme
for 2000-2004 and (3) identify priorities
for UNFPA support under the Population and
Development Sub-programme.
Pakistan (14-19
February): To review the progress of the data
processing of the 1998 Census of Pakistan
and identify areas for UNFPA support to speed
up processing and to have the data analysed
and disseminated.
Visitors
to the Statistics Division
Ms Chomsook Thiamklin, Geography Department, Faculty of Social Sciences,
Flinders University, Adelaide
Ms Annie Serrano,
Programme Coordinator, United Nations Offices
for Project Services (UNOPS), Manila
Ms Mercedes B. Concepcion,
Team Leader, UNFPA Evaluation Team
Mr. W. Indralal De
Silva, Team member, UNFPA Evaluation Team
Mr. Peter K.W. Digby,
Team member, UNFPA Evaluation Team
Mr. Raffaello Marsili,
Senior Economist, Global Information and Early
Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS),
FAO, Rome
Mr. Anthony G. Turner,
Consultant in Sampling, New York
Mr. Hisaaki Fukuda,
Director, Data Processing Division, Statistics
Center, Tokyo
Mr. Naoki Makita,
Chief, Quality Control Planning Unit, Statistics
Center, Tokyo
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