UNAMI Celebrates with Iraq the World Statistics Day

In Iraq, statistics are of particular significance, and the role of the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) and the Kurdistan Region Statistics Office (KRSO) are vital. New baseline data needs to be established to support sound policy making and development planning and to enable the monitoring and tracking of progress, including that made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

The UN family is celebrating with Iraq the WSD to acknowledge the outstanding achievements made in the field of official statistics and to congratulate the country for the accomplishments of the last few years. The UN also confirms its willingness to continue supporting Iraq in developing an integrated and effective statistical system in line with the fundamental principles of official statistics endorsed by the UN Statistics Committee, in accordance with international professional codes and best practices.

On the WSD, the UN family believes that the upcoming population and housing census is an important opportunity to provide a vital set of indicators, which will underpin development planning in Iraq. Furthermore, while the supply of official statistics was important in the past years, additional statistics are still required for the national and international agenda to track progress by the Government of Iraq and the UN planned programmes over the next four years. The additional statistics will also contribute to the implementation of the National Development Plan, which requires an enabling environment for the CSO and the KRSO to fulfill their duties in a professional manner.