Resource information
This year the preliminary results of the
international comparison program are being released,
providing new comparisons of price levels for more than 140
countries. The program, the largest single data collection
effort ever undertaken, is a salutary example of what can be
accomplished through global partnership, technical
innovation, and systematic attention to building local
statistical capacity. Along with censuses, surveys are a
major source of development statistics. In 2005 the
international household survey network was formed to
coordinate activities and provide tools for documenting and
archiving surveys, thus ensuring that investments in surveys
will continue to pay dividends into the future. All of these
are important steps in building national and international
statistical systems that respond to the demand for evidence
to guide development. But more remains to be done, and the
need is urgent. The challenges to us, national and
international statisticians, donors, data users, and
everyone concerned with measuring results, are threefold: a)
how to accelerate investment in statistics; b) how to
produce statistics that meet the needs of users; and c) how
to harmonize donor efforts in support of developing
countries as they build their statistical systems.
