UN Millennium Development Goals e-learning materials

UN MDG Data sources

The United Nations Statistics Division coordinates the preparation of data analysis to assess progress made and maintains the UN Millennium Development Indicators database which contains the 60 official MDG indicators and some additional data series intended to supplement the basic indicators, for more in-depth analysis.

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The figures presented in the database are compiled by specialized agencies within their area of expertise. They are drawn from national statistics provided by Governments to the international statistical system-the United Nations Statistics Division and the statistical offices of the various agencies-and usually adjusted for comparability. The availability of data needed to calculate the indicators in each country depends on the capacity of the national statistical services to produce the necessary data and/or to report them in a timely manner to the relevant international agencies. In some instances, national Governments may have more recent statistics that have not been reported to the international statistical system. In other cases, countries do not produce the data required for the compilation of the indicators. When this occurs, agencies make estimates based on data available on related variables or other methodologies as described in the metadata section of the UN MDG Indicators web site.

The publication Indicators for monitoring the MDGs gives complete and authoritative information on the concepts, definitions, implementation and sources of data for the official MDG indicators. For each indicator this handbook provides a simple operational definition, the rationale for the indicators selection, the method of computation, sources of data, references including Internet sites for data and methodologies, limitations and notes on gender issues and national and international agencies concerned with each topic.