United Nations (UN)
The international organization, created in 1945 by 51 countries that obliged themselves to maintain international peace and safety, develop friendly relations between nations, promote social progress, human rights and better standards of living.
There are 193 countries belonging to the organization, headquartered in New York. The UN contains many programs, commissions and specialized, tightly connected agencies. Among them : International Labour Organization (ILO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Within the UN, there are also the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The UN statistical system constitutes a complex body, comprising a group of services and programs. The United Nations Statistical Commission, was established in 1947 in New York, by Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Resolution 8. Its main role is to support the ECOSOC in coordinating statistical activities carried out by various UN bodies.
According to its terms of reference, the Commission shall assist the Council in:
- promoting the development of national statistics and the improvement of their comparability,
- coordination of the statistical work of specialized agencies,
- development of the key statistical services of the Secretariat – United Nations Statistical Division,
- advising the organs of the United Nations on general questions relating to the collection, analysis and dissemination of statistical information,
- promoting the improvement of statistics and statistical methods.
The Commission associates all actors of the global statistical system. It is the highest international decision making body for statistical activities setting statistical standards and development of concepts and methods and their implementation at the national and international level in order to facilitate and improve data comparability. In a cooperation with specialized agencies, Statistical Commission helps to enhance the functioning of the statistical systems in developing countries. The Commission meets once a year in New York.
Statistics Poland has taken an active part in the Commission’s meetings since its annual meetings were established. It also provides statistical data to specialized UN agencies and organizations.
It is worth mentioning on the regional level it is the Conference of European Statistician (CES) that drives statistical work in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe – UNECE region. It brings together Chief Statisticians of UNECE countries and a number of international organizations (such as the OECD), also representatives of countries beyond UNECE as well as all others important international organizations active in the field of statistics.
Plenary session of CES taking place every year mainly focuses on:
- promoting the development of national statistics and the improvement of their comparability,
- promoting the cooperation of the countries in the area of statistics to unify the statistical terminology and to reduce the national statistical offices burden,
- giving the possibility for the views exchange, as well as meeting the increasing demands for statistical international cooperation,
- discussing about statistical standards in the UNECE region. Here, the CES has the right to adopt statistical standards which should be followed in the UNECE region.
Statistics Poland representatives take part in the annual plenary session of CES, as well as seminars and working groups coordinated by the UN Statistics Division in Geneva.