National statistical systems are called to leverage all sources of data at their disposal and mobilize partners and experts from all sectors of society to implement solutions for the production of timely and disaggregated statistics urgently needed to understand and respond to the global COVID-19 crisis.
While we just celebrated International Women's day, we recognize that women continue to face many inequalities and challenges – including rising violence. A recent report by UN Women produced new survey data confirming the "shadow pandemic" that is violence against women (VAW). In a conversation with Jessamyn O. Encarnacion, who is the Inter-Regional Advisor on Gender Statistics at UN Women, we find more about how innovations have helped produce the numbers behind this report.
In December 2020, Eurostat launched the European Statistical Recovery Dashboard, which is updated every month and contains monthly and quarterly statistical indicators relevant for tracking the economic and social recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) of the United Kingdom has released a provisional analysis of deaths related to COVID-19, as reported on the death certificate, from different ethnic groups in England and Wales. The analysis was prepared using linked census and mortality records on deaths occurring between 2 March and 10 April (reported as of 17 April 2020). While ethnicity is not recorded on death certificates in England and Wales, the researchers linked the deaths involving COVID-19 to the 2011 Census. The 2011 Census data included self-reported ethnicity.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created a huge demand for fast data to measure its impact on society. Statistics Denmark, in collaboration with other members of the national statistical system, has been using new data sources and methods to provide faster indicators of development. These Experimental Statistics, whose methodologies are subject to continuous development and are not part of the official statistics production, can nevertheless be of great value when users demand fast, innovative and reliable measures of development. In the context of the COVID-19 situation, they provide valuable information to understand the pandemic’s impact on consumption, industry, employment, transportation, trade, etc.
The international statistics community has continued to work together, in partnership with national statistical offices and systems around the world, to ensure that the best quality data and statistics are available to support decision making during and after the current crisis. In this context, thirty six international organizations have launched, under the aegis of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA), a report entitled "How COVID-19 is changing the world: a statistical perspective".
Responding to the need for statistical benchmarks for substantiating the public and private decisions that will be taken in the coming months in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Institute of National Statistics (INS) of Romania is making available a series of ad-hoc studies measuring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Romanian economy, including rapid estimates for the decreases in economic activity, employment, and exports.
As part of its response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) has launched a Coronavirus Impact Dashboard to track the real-time impact of the coronavirus on countries in the region. The dashboard tracks a range of variables in order to provide Latin American and Caribbean policymakers, epidemiologists, and the general public with measures of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on people’s behavior and economic activity.
In order to measure and monitor differences in COVID-19 incidence and fatality rates between women and men, data disaggregated, as a minimum, by sex, age groups and geographical areas are urgently needed. It is also highly recommended to ollect and disseminate additional data on employment, occupation (to capture the most vulnerable workers), household type (e.g., one person, couples without children, couples with children, lone parents, extended family), and access to social protection and to mobile and virtual services (e.g., health, education and financial) during physical distancing and/or isolation.