Beirut, 7-10 December 2009

Neda JafarStatistics Division

ESCWA

Workshop on MDG Monitoring"Assessment of Data

Availability"

Availability of data

Discrepancy of data

ESCWA strategy Part I – current activitiesPart II – future plans

“Not everything that can be counted counts; and not

everything that counts can be counted.”

—ALBERT EINSTEIN

Finding - 1Major differences exist in the data availability

reported by the two sources.

The greater the difference in data availability reported, the higher the possibility of major shortcomings in the reporting mechanism between them

Regional average for national available data: 29 %

Regional average at UNSD database : 16 %UNSD therefore disseminates little more than half

the data reported in national sources

Data availability: national vs. UNSD

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Bahrain

Egyp

tIra

q Jordan

Kuwait

LebanonOman

Palestine

Qatar

Saudi

ArabiaSyr

ian

Arab

Republic

United

Arab

Emira

tes

Yemen

National data available

UNSD data available

Finding - 2 national data not reported in UNSD db(37 % - 78%)

0%

10%

20%

30 %

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Bahrain EgyptIraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman

PalestineQatar

Saudi

Arabia

Syrian

Arab

Republic

United

Arab

Emirates

Yemen

Finding – 3UNSD available data not found in national db(3%-53%)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Bahrain

Egyp

t Iraq

Jordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Oman

Palesti

neQata

rSa

udi

Arabia Sy

rian

Arab

RepublicUnite

d

Arab

Emirates

Yemen

Finding – 4National disaggregated data available and not reported in UNSD database

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

9%

Bahrai

n

Egypt Ira

qJo

rdan

Kuwait

Leba

non

Oman

Palesti

ne

Qatar

Saudi

Arabia

Syrian

Arab

Repub

lic United

Arab

Emirates

Yemen

Finding - 5Discrepancy in data value emanates from one

or more components related to metadata :Definitionmethod of calculationtargeted population and subpopulationsources of dataestimation methods.

18 % exact match39 % consistent in value (+ or – 10 per cent)44 % discrepant

Available data points for national and UNSD

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Bahrain

Egypt Iraq

Jordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Oman

Palestine

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

SyrianArabRepublic

UnitedArabEmirates

Yemen

Exact Consistent Discrepant

8th SC PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVEMENT

@ national level: - Review current methodologies- Organize workshops- Publish metadata (handbooks and guidelines)- Carry out the required surveys and censuses - Improve administrative registers- Compile disaggregated and gender sensitive

indicators- Develop a central repository and making it

user-accessible- Publish new MDGR

@ regional level: - Identify regional priorities to improve MDG

production & analysis - Propose future courses of action- technical

cooperation and statistical capacity-building;- Develop and maintain a regional central

database derived from national databases - Monitor availability, track progress and plan

capacity-building activities in focused statistical areas;

- Discuss mechanisms available to agencies for gathering data from countries, their methods of compilation of international data series and imputations

- Identify ways to improve compilation of regional data series by improving reporting mechanisms from national statistical systems to international agencies;

- Compile, review and make recommendations to improve national metadata

ESCWA Strategy – Part IActivities: Compile data series for MDG Indicators Compile sources of data Consistency checks Quality checks Review data series with NSO Capacity building workshops

DevInfo workshops: users, administrators and trainers

MDG monitoring workshops Handbook on MDG Indicators - Arabic Review national DevInfo databases

StructureContentMetadata

Technical advisory services

Common mistakesCO2 emissions per capita

Countries provide data in Kg per capita, while it should be reported in ton per capita.

Ex. 0.629 ton per capita

CO2 emissions are calculated only in tons when it is calculated per capita,in Kg only when calculated per 1$ GDP (PPP)in metric tons when its calculated alone

The Carbon dioxide emissions are calculated by dividing carbon dioxide emissions by the number of people in the national population.

Outputs:

Repositories of national MDG datasetsNational DevInfoRegional DevInfoNational MDG Handbooks (metadata)ADITT – Arab DevInfo (DI) Training

Team

Current Status: Data availability since 2005

ICT indicators

The source of data is important to check whether the methodology is sound, for instance the number ofsubscribers for the below indicators should be obtained from administrative records compiled by national regulatory authorities or telecommunication operators: 8.14. Telephone lines per 100 population8.15. Cellular subscribers per 100 population While the below indicator can be based on user surveys.8.16. Internet users per 100 population

The share of women wage employment in non agriculture sector

Countries mistakenly assume that all the women wage employment are 100%

and calculate accordingly the proportion of them who work in non-agricultural sectors, the result is a high percentage.

It is the share of women from total number of persons in paid employment in the non-agricultural sector

Incidence rates associated with malaria Incidence rate should be reported and not the

number of cases

Death rates associated with tuberculosis Death rate should be reported and not the

number of death cases associated with TB

Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected under directly observed treatment short course

Indicator 6.10A and 6.10B should be provided as separate indicators cured under dotsdetected under dots

http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Metadata.aspx

MDG

Activities:Tailoring MDGs at national and regional

levelsLinking to strategiesCustomizing MDGsLocalizing MDGS

Capacity buildingWorkshop(s) on MDG+Workshops on analysis and presentations

ESCWA Strategy – Part II

Outputs:

Extended list of development indicators (Sub) Regional Handbook on MDG+

IndicatorsRepositories of national development

indicatorsNational DevInfo +Regional DevInfo +NMDG+ Reports

Thank you