UN Statistics Commission: Measuring Progress for the SDGs

Chief statisticians from around the world to discuss progress towards measuring the SDGs

By Steve MacFeely, Head of Statistics and Information

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

This years’ United Nations Statistics Commission meeting, that takes place this week, is like no other held previously – the 52nd Commission will be the first virtual StatCom. 

It marks an anniversary of sorts - last year, at the close of the 51st UN Statistical Commission on March 6th 2020, it was clear that COVID-19 was rapidly escalating from a regional to a global crisis. There were already more than 98,000 confirmed cases spread across 93 countries or territories. The World Health Organisation had already upgraded their global risk assessment to ‘very high’ on March 1st. Within a week of the Statistical Commission, on March 11th, the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Almost a year later, at the end of February 2021, the WHO reports that there have been 113 million confirmed cases and 2.5 million Covid-19 related deaths.