Towards a global system of monitoring the implementation of un fundamental principles in national official statistics

Abstract

The paper aims to advance the discussion on the need for an international-global system of review and assessment of the implementation of the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (UNFP). It introduces an analytical argument of why official statistics and their quality is a "global public good", which needs to be managed appropriately at the global level so as to achieve a socially optimal outcome. While progress has been made in promoting the UNFP, the current system of monitoring their implementation and thus the quality of official statistics in individual countries is severely limited. This is because it is a system of voluntary self-assessment and self-monitoring and thus of limited reliability and usefulness. Moreover, the peer reviews that have taken place, although helpful, do not constitute the appropriate long term solution to the issue of optimally managing the global public good of official statistics. Instead, effective compliance monitoring of the implementation of the UNFP, through regular evaluation, verification, follow-up and published reports in the form of audits by an independent international institution, is essential for rigorous, timely and harmonized implementation of the UNFP. The paper also discusses aspects of setting up the proposed international institution and global system of monitoring.