11 March 2025
On March 4-7, 2025, the 56th session of the UN Statistical Commission was held in New York. The Republic of Belarus was represented in the event by Mr. Timofei Zhigarev, Deputy Chairperson of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus (Belstat).
In the session on the data and indicators of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Deputy Chairperson of the Belstat highlighted the key achievements of Belarusian statistics in monitoring the SDGs.
“Currently, the national list of SDG indicators in the Republic of Belarus includes 246 indicators, with 70% harmonization of global and national SDG lists. The level of data availability has reached 94%. Belstat annually assesses the country’s progress towards achieving the SDGs and the latest assessment (2024) shows that more than 80% of the indicators demonstrate progress towards the targets. Such result confirms the high degree of commitment of the Republic of Belarus to its obligations within the framework of the global initiative and the intention to fulfill the 2030 Agenda,” informed Timofei Zhigarev.
During the System of National Accounts (SNA) session, SNA 2025 was adopted as the updated international statistical standard for the compilation of national accounts statistics and its implementation strategy was approved.
The Deputy Chairperson of the Belstat noted that the update of the SNA and the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual will contribute to the maximum harmonization of macroeconomic statistics. He also informed that in 2025 the stages of implementation of the new SNA in the Republic of Belarus will be included in the State Statistics Development Strategy for the period up to 2030.
During the consideration of “Population and Housing Censuses”, the resolution on the 2030 World Population and Housing Census Program and the fourth revised edition “Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses” were approved.
Belarus became the first country in the CIS where a digital census was conducted. Sharing the national experience, Timofey Zhigarev noted that the 2020 census was the most innovative of all previously conducted: “Data were collected using a combination of administrative data, face-to-face interviews using tablet computers, and through respondents’ self-completion of questionnaires via the Internet. The use of GIS-technologies at the stage of preparation for the population census allowed to obtain data that are geo-referenced and can be aggregated in any territorial section”.
The Deputy Chairperson also shared plans for the 2030 census, which will emphasize the use of administrative data and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence.
During the session dedicated to the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, Timofey Zhigarev emphasized that the statistical legislation of the Republic of Belarus is harmonized with the Model Law on Official Statistics and complies with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, which is confirmed by international experts. He also informed that in the updated Law of the Republic of Belarus on State Statistics the content of the basic principles of statistics is disclosed, the work with administrative data is systematized, the access of statisticians, including remote access, to all information systems and resources of state bodies and private data owners is fixed at the institutional level.
“Today Belstat receives more than 600 administrative datasets, which are used in all branches of statistics. More than 40% of the indicators of the national SDG list are calculated based on data from alternative sources. This approach ensures resource savings, reduces the reporting burden on business and eliminates the duplication of data requests in the country,” explained the representative of Belstat.
Support for the participation of Timofei Zhigarev, Deputy Chairperson of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus, in the 56th session of the UN Statistical Commission was provided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) within the framework of the Joint Project “Support to the Efforts of the Republic of Belarus in Nationalization and Localization of SDGs” funded by the Government of the Russian Federation.
Providing relevant and reliable statistical information makes an important contribution to the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
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Source of information: official website of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus
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