News 21 Apr 2021
Finland becomes member of the United Nations Statistical Commission for 2022 to 2025
The United Nations Economic and Social Council has selected Finland as a member of the United Nations Statistical Commission for the term of 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2025.
The United Nations Statistical Commission is composed of representatives of 24 member states. The members are selected from the UN member states based on geographical distribution for four years. The member states are represented by the Directors General of the national statistical institutes. The Director General of Statistics Finland, Markus Sovala, represents Finland in the Statistical Commission.
“In the Commission we will bring up modern Nordic practices, such as the use of versatile register data and enterprise datasets in statistics production,” says Markus Sovala.
The United Nations Statistical Commission is the highest decision making body for international statistical activities. It is responsible for the setting of statistical standards and the development of concepts and methods on international level. The United Nations Statistical Commission is a Functional Commission of the UN Economic and Social Council, which assists the council and oversees the work of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).
The Nordic countries have customarily been forerunners in the field of statistics and developers of the global statistical service. Finland was last a member of the Statistical Commission between 2006 and 2009. One of the key issues of the Statistical Commission in recent years has been the development of monitoring indicators for sustainable development. In the next few years, the new roles of statistical authorities in supporting information management in society as a whole will be particularly topical.
“Statistical institutes process large datasets generated in society when compiling statistics. Now we are discussing internationally the new role of statistical institutes, which means that the know-how used in the production of statistics will be utilised more extensively in society,” says Director General Sovala and continues:
“Statistics are by nature updated slowly and it is difficult to renew them. The corona epidemic has reminded us of the value of fast updated data alongside statistics.”
Further information:
Timo Koskimäki, Director of International Affairs, Statistics Finland, tel. +358 29 551 3495, timo.koskimaki@stat.fi
About the activities of the United Nations Statistical Commission: UNSD — United Nations Statistical Commission