The United Nations Demographic Yearbook and the

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Expert Group Meeting to Review the United
Nations Demographic Yearbook System 10-14
November 2003 New York

• The United Nations Demographic Yearbookand the
• Work Programme for Social Statistics

Demographic and Social Statistics Branch United
Nations Statistics Division
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Main reasons for presenting the work programme
for social statistics

• To acquaint experts with the proposed work
  programme for social statistics, that they may
  take it into consideration when discussing the
  Demographic Yearbook and their national data
  systems
• To get feedback
• general or specific comments
• specific inputs and contributions to any of the
  activities listed

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Background

• At its 33rd session, the Statistical Commission
  expressed the need for a more systematic
  development of social statistics.
• In response, an expert group meeting, Setting
  the Scope of Social Statistics, was conducted in
  New York in May 2003, with the objective of
  proposing a programme of work for furthering the
  development of social statistics.

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Background (contd)

• The expert group meeting came up with a set of
  recommendations for furthering the development of
  social statistics. These recommendations served
  as a guide for drafting a work programme for
  social statistics.
• The final work programme will be presented to the
  Statistical Commission in March 2004.

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The proposed work programme for social statistics
(2004-2014)
The work programme addresses four main areas

• Coordination
• International standards
• Data sources
• Promoting the use of statistics

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Planning and implementing the work programme for
social statistics Key considerations

• Integrated approach
• Mainstream gender and other special population
  groups
• Consider linkages among various social sectors,
  as well as between the social, economic and
  environmental fields

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Most elements of the work programme for social
statistics are highly relevant to the Demographic
Yearbook system. For example,
Coordination

• Review existing coordination mechanisms among
  international organizations with a view to
  improving them
• Document coordination among producers of social
  statistics at the national level (case studies)
• Create a Social Statistics website with active
  links to relevant UN specialized agencies

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International standards
Most elements of the work programme for social
statistics are highly relevant to the Demographic
Yearbook system. For example,

• Make available on the web international standards
  relevant to all areas of social statistics
• Promote harmonization of standards, units and
  classifications across data sources

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Data sources
Most elements of the work programme for social
statistics are highly relevant to the Demographic
Yearbook system. For example,

• Review the totality of data sources for social
  statistics and consider their complementary use
• Workshops to review national metadata systems
  used to describe the quality and timeliness of
  social statistics

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Data sources (contd)

• Strengthen national capacity to conduct censuses
  and sample surveys
• Review and supplement the international
  recommendations for Population and Housing
  Censuses, for Vital statistics and for
  International Migration
• Integrated workshops on producing fertility,
  mortality and international migration statistics
  using all data sources
• Workshops on multi-purpose surveys
• Strengthen national administrative systems for
  statistical purposes

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Promoting the use of social statistics
Most elements of the work programme for social
statistics are highly relevant to the Demographic
Yearbook system. For example,

• Maximize the utilization of social statistics for
  policy
• Preparation of The Worlds Women 2005 (for which
  the Demographic Yearbook will be a major source)

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We ask you to

• Consider the recommendations of the expert group
  meeting on social statistics and the proposed
  work programme in your review of the Demographic
  Yearbook, with a view to improving the
  collection, dissemination and collection of
  social statistics
• Comment on the work programme
• Indicate interest in participating or
  contributing to any specific activity listed in
  the work programme

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Discussion points

• How well does the current Demographic Yearbook
  cover social statistics? Can new topics be added
  without compromising the quality of the
  Demographic Yearbook?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of
  combining various data sources for producing
  social and demographic statistics for the
  Demographic Yearbook?
• How can we maximize the utilization of social
  statistics produced by the Demographic Yearbook ?
• What changes need to be made to the current
  system to more adequately meet the diverse needs
  of users of social statistics?