United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD-DESA)

The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) is the central statistical office of the UN Secretariat, part of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). It serves as the substantive secretariat of the UN Statistical Commission, established in 1947 and the apex body of the global statistical system, which sets international statistical standards and develops concepts and methods for national and international implementation. UNSD compiles and disseminates statistics from member states, develops international standards and classifications, supports national statistical offices in building capacity and modernising their systems, and maintains the global SDG Indicators Database. Its products include UN Comtrade, the Demographic Yearbook and UNdata, alongside World Statistics Day and the UN World Data Forum, launched in 2017 as a platform bringing together data producers and users across all sectors. UNSD also serves the High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for Statistics and follows up the Cape Town Global Action Plan.