October 20 is the second World Statistics Day (WSD), the United Nation’s recognition and celebration of the importance of official statistics and those who collect and disseminate them around the world.
As part of the celebration, a data visualization contest was announced recently that challenges participants to answer a question relevant to development policy by building an infographic or dynamic visualization featuring the latest data from the 2015 Millennium Development Goals Report.
Also, a campaign button is being distributed throughout the world, most recently at JSM in Seattle, Washington, and the World Statistics Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The button features a logo created for use in WSD celebrations in 15 languages. Those interested in creating the logo in another language should contact the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD) at statistics@un.org.
WSD is facilitated by UNSD, and campaigns are taking shape in many countries. Slovenia, Russia, and Vietnam are recent examples. Organizations celebrating WSD are encouraged to send information about and samples from their celebrations to the UNSD at statistics@un.org. For example, Japan kicked off its celebration with a commemorative mug.
“Statistics are critical for evidence-based decision-making across all cultural and historical backgrounds of countries and irrespective of their level of development,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an August 2015 letter to heads of state. “I am encouraged by the efforts made in recent years in many countries to strengthen their statistical capacity, under the leadership of national statistical offices, in areas such as population and housing censuses and the monitoring of the progress of Millennium Development Goals.”
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