OECD STATISTICS
Astana
December 2014
David Brackfield
OECD Statistics Directorate
Overview
1. The OECD
2. Role and Organisation of Statistics at the
OECD
3. “Producing” OECD Statistics
4. New and emerging priorities in OECD
statistical work
1. The OECD
The OECD’s mission
Better Policies for Better Lives
Promote economic stability, full employment,
social cohesion and a clean environment
An evolving OECD mission
 From mainly government advice to interacting
with civil society at large
 Increasing links with G-20 (and Partner)
economies and accession of new countries
 Currently under review: Colombia and Latvia
 From a very strong economic focus to broader,
cross-cutting societal debates (e.g. Green
Growth, Gender, Well-being and Progress, Skills,
Inequalities)
How does the OECD deliver on
its mission?
multidisciplinary
approach
high standard of
transparency
regarding information
collection, compilation
and dissemination of
statistics
sharing best practices
“soft law” making
Better Policies
for Better Lives
“evidence based”
analysis and
recommendations
Examples of OECD outputs
Reports on a
variety of
policy areas
Country Policy
Studies and Reviews
Principles of
Corporate
Governance
Data and Statistical
Products
Anti-Bribery
Convention
Guidelines for
Multinational
Enterprises
Economic Forecasts
Tax Transparency
and Information
Exchange
2. Role and Organisation
of Statistics at the OECD
Statistics play a central role at
the OECD
 Statistics are a basic obligation of membership
• OECD members commit to “furnish the Organisation with the
information necessary for the accomplishment of its tasks”
• But unlike, for example, Eurostat, the OECD has no legal
instruments in the collection of statistics
 High standards of transparency of information
• Implemented through collecting and publishing statistics on a
range issues
 “Evidence-based” analysis and peer pressure are
based on statistics
Statistics and their role at the
OECD
 In a globalised world, international comparisons are
more important than ever
• OECD is a respected source of high-quality internationally
comparable statistics, with broad coverage and long-term
perspective
 To inform policy-making in all critical policy areas
 To provide sound conceptual frameworks for new
and emerging issues
 To inform the public at large
OECD: a decentralised
statistical system...
Numerous Policy Committees (and their Directorates)
steer work on statistics
 Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy,
CSSP
 Committees on Fiscal Affairs and Financial Markets
 Education Policy Committee
 Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee
 Health Committee
 Environment Committee
...But a federated statistical
system
 CSSP and the Statistics Directorate (STD)
co-ordinate statistics within OECD
– to advise and avoid duplication by OECD Directorates
– to simplify communications and data exchanges
– to enhance dissemination and presentation of data
– to ensure Quality; STD is responsible for “Quality Reviews”
And with other International Organisations and
Partners
 Lead work in new and emerging statistical fields
Contribution to International
Standards
 Methodological work
• Standards and handbooks: e.g. SNA 2008, SEEA, SPPI
Manual, PPP Manual
• Participation and significant contributions to international
Groups and Task Forces (e.g. ISWGNA, FISIM, CO2
Emission permits, Inter-Agency Group for Economic and
Financial Statistics, Globalisation, Guidelines on Business
Registers, Sustainable development, etc)
 International data transmission, data sharing
• Active partner in SDMX project
• IAG: Principal Global Indicators, Task Force on International
Data Sharing (TFIDS)
3. “Producing” OECD
Statistics
How the OECD “produces” statistics
 OECD collects from producers of (official) statistics
 Engages with data suppliers and users in
Committees and Working Parties
• Extensive validation and harmonisation process for quality
comparable statistics, strong focus on transparent metadata
-> Online data warehouse OECD.Stat
 Three approaches to developing OECD statistics
A. Country statistics based on International Standards and
OECD harmonisation
B. OECD derived statistics
C. OECD designed programmes
A. Country Statistics based on
International Standards
 Countries submit data and metadata
 OECD encourages compliance with standards
and provision of data in prescribed ways
 OECD harmonises, adjusts and disseminates
Harmonised Countries’ Statistics:
Net National Income per capita
OECD=100
B. OECD Derived Statistics
 Countries provide data
 Secretariat conducts analysis and develops
indicators
Examples:
• Productivity, Unit Labour Costs
• Composite Leading Indicators (CLI)
• Education, and numerous other analytical programmes
 Almost all programmes have “derived data”
Derived Statistics:
Composite Leading Indicators (CLI)
Growth Around Trend in OECD Area
April 2013
C. OECD designed programmes
 New statistics and indicators are defined and
designed by the OECD and participating countries
mainly for policy purposes
 Indicators are defined and collection processes
developed from the outset
 Countries participate in design and in collection
– Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme (STD)
– PISA and PIAAC (Education Directorate)
– Product Market Regulation (Economics Directorate)
– Employment Protection; Health Indicators (Directorate for
Employment, Labour and Social Affairs)
4. New and emerging
priorities in OECD
statistical work
Key Statistics Priorities
Current OECD Priorities responding to new
emerging policy needs ...
• Measuring Well-being
• Measuring Progress Towards Green Growth
• Measuring Trade in Value Added
• Improving Gender Statistics
Measuring well-being
How’s Life?
presents set of internationally comparable and
comprehensive well-being indicators.
First edition launched in 2011.
General Social Survey (GSS) fundamental to
greater use of official statistics in next edition of
How’s Life? (2013).
Your Better Life Index
A tool for informing policy making
to improve quality of life.
Selected activities on measuring well-being
 Guidelines on Subjective Well-being
– First international guidelines on this subject
– Comments received from around 19 countries
– Final report released in March 2013, with CSSP approval
 Economic well-being
– Expert Group on Micro-Statistics on Household Income,
Consumption and Wealth (ICW)
• Two reports to be released in June 2013: i) guidance on microdata household wealth; ii) framework to support joint analysis
micro data ICW
– Expert Group on Disparities in a National Accounts
Framework
• Final report in 2013
Green Growth Indicators
 Implementing measurement agenda post 2011
OECD Ministerial meeting:
• Update of GG Indicators publication
• Identification of headline indicators and measurement
• Implementation of System of Environmental-Economic
Accounting (SEEA):
Forthcoming collection of SEEA Core Tables: data on
emissions to air and natural resources.
First report to be produced and presented to CSSP
Green Growth framework
Trade in Value Added
• Traditional trade statistics focus on gross flows
• Can give a distorted picture of bilateral trade balances
• Components of goods and services come from
numerous countries
New measures of Trade in Value Added:
• Measure Value Added by a country in the goods or
services it exports
Gender Statistics
 Development of gender indicators focusing on
3Es: Employment, Education, Entrepreneurship
• In collaboration with Inter-Agency Expert Group on the
Development of Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS)
 Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE)
 With UNSD, UNWomen, World Bank
 OECD launched the Gender Data Portal