First United Nations World Data Forum

Following one of the main recommendations contained in the report entitled “A World That Counts” , presented in November 2014 by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Independent Expert and Advisory Group on Data Revolution for Sustainable Development, the Statistical Commission agreed that a United Nations World Data Forum on Sustainable Development Data (UN World Data Forum) would be the suitable platform for intensifying cooperation with various professional groups, such as information technology, geospatial information managers, data scientists, and users, as well as civil society stakeholders.

With the guidance of the Statistical Commission, and the support of the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (HLG), in close consultation with member states and international partners, will be leading the discussion on the organization of the UN World Data Forum. The first United Nations World Data Forum will be hosted by Statistics South Africa in Cape Town, South Africa in January 2017. The Opening Ceremony will take place Sunday evening, 15 January, and the Forum will close on the 18 January 2017. The substantive sessions of the Forum will take place between 16 and 18 January 2017.