Overview

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) was set up in 1947 by ECOSOC. It is one of five regional commissions of the United Nations.  The others are the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

Its major aim is to promote pan-European economic integration. To do so, UNECE brings together 56 countries located in the European Union, non-EU Western and Eastern Europe, South-East Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and North America. All these countries dialogue and cooperate under the aegis of the UNECE on economic and sectoral issues.

To this end, it provides analysis, policy advice and assistance to governments; it gives focus to the United Nations global mandates in the economic field, in cooperation with other global players and key stakeholders, notably the business community.

The UNECE also sets out norms, standards and conventions to facilitate international cooperation within and outside the region.

The area of expertise of the UNECE covers such sectors as: economic cooperation and integration, energy, environment, housing and land management, population, statistics, timber, trade and transport.

Over 70 international professional organizations and other non-governmental organizations take part in UNECE activities.

Statistical Activities

The UNECE Statistical Division serves and assists statistical development in member states and worldwide. It promotes international comparability of official statistics, participates in methodological development and fosters best practices based on the United Nations Fundamental Principles of official statistics.  Moreover, the Statistical Division also serves the broader public by providing focused and user friendly database services on economic and gender statistics as well as web-based information an actual statistical themes and topics.

The UNECE Statistical Division has a number of strength areas of expertise, where it is especially active in organizing meetings and workshops.  It also provides technical cooperation to the countries in the less developed sub-regions, such as Central Asia, Eastern and South Eastern Europe and Southern Caucasus. 

These strength areas of expertise are:

• Population and Housing Censuses
• Statistics on Migration
• Gender-Statistics and Gender main­streaming
• Short-term Economic Statistics
• Price Statistics
• Sustainable Economic Development and National Accounts
• Non-observed Economy
• Dissemination of Statistical Information
• Statistical Metadata
• Legal Framework of National Statistical Systems

The Statistical Division of the UNECE also performs the role of coordinating statistical activities in its wide region, covering 56 member states from North America through the whole of Europe until the eastern borders of Central Asia.  To support this coordination function, the Division provides the Database on International Statistical Activities (DISA) services on the internet. From this database anyone can follow up statistical activities taking place in the UNECE region.  The web site of this service is: http://www1.unece.org/stat/platform/display/DISA2010

Economic, Gender, Transport and Forestry databases provide statistical information from all UNECE member countries.  See: 
http://w3.unece.org/pxweb/Dialog/

UNECE Member Countries in Figures is a small, neat and practical introduction to the basic statistical information on all 56 UNECE member countries.  See: http://www.unece.org/stats/profiles2009/Welcome.html

A comprehensive electronic Documents Library is at your disposal at the web site: http://www.unece.org/stats/archive/docs.e.htm

Here you will also find information about meetings, seminars and workshops, organized by the UNECE:
http://www.unece.org/stats/archive/docs.date.e.htm

The latest publications of the UNECE Statistical Division can be retrieved at the web site http://www.unece.org/stats/publ.htm

For an access to the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, see: http://www.unece.org/stats/archive/docs.fp.e.htm

A series of wikis including a collection of training materials and information on specific topics such as statistical metadata and information systems can be found at: http://www1.unece.org/stat/platform/dashboard.action
 
Received November 2010