ADDIS ABABA, Jan 10 (IPS) – That one in three Africans will not be counted as countries that fail to meet census deadlines is a major setback for development planning.
As the 2030 deadline to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approaches, research shows that Africa is lagging behind in meeting key targets. Another challenge is that many African countries do not have accurate information about the socio-economic needs of their people in order to better plan development programs.
But there is a way forward: investing in robust data and statistical systems, says Oliver Chinganya, Director of the Africa Center for Statistics (ACS) and Chief Statistician of the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
African governments talk about the importance of data, yet investment often falls short, Chinganya tells IPS. He emphasizes this urgency, pointing to Africa’s non-participation in the UN-led census rounds since 1990. He warned that 376 million people are at risk of not being counted if many countries do not participate in the counting.
“Accurate and reliable statistics are the ‘new oil’ that will boost national economic growth by helping governments to improve their SDG targets as they can better plan in allocating development funds while tracking their achievements,” Chinganya told IPS.
Without accurate data and statistics, development planning is difficult in many African countries, which are forced to rely on statistics that can be produced by the continent and the continent, he said.
At the SDGs conference in 2023, the UN launched Data Power to unlock the Data Dividend as one of 12 high-impact initiatives to help scale up the SDGs. African governments have pledged to invest 0.15 percent of their national budget in the statistics sector but few countries have followed through.
IPS spoke to Chinganya, following the 11th meeting of the Forum on African Statistical Development (FASDEV), an initiative of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), which promotes communication between countries, partners and institutions that support statistical development.
Quotes:
IPS: What exactly are we talking about when we talk about data and statistics and why are they important for Africa’s development?
Oliver Chinganya: Data and statistics are very important; are used for planning at different levels. It’s not just the government that needs information these days but everyone. Before you go to the market to buy anything you want, you always need data first of all to make decisions before buying—how much it costs and what you might need to have these items delivered to your home.
At the government level, decisions similar to those you take at the local level are made when the government asks questions about what we need to plan in order to be able to develop. For example, how many schools do we need, and what kind of studies do we need to do? What kind of roads do we need? What kind of production systems are needed in the country? Different data and statistics are needed to inform decisions.
Statistics provide evidence for policies. They help establish goals, identify needs, and monitor progress. It is impossible to learn from mistakes and hold policy makers accountable without good statistics.
Good statistics are essential for managing the delivery of public services effectively and efficiently, and play an important role in improving transparency and accountability. Statistics contribute to development, not only as a monitoring tool but also as a tool to drive measurable results. In terms of national development, statistics play a very important role.
IPS: How would you describe the state of mathematics in Africa?
Change: When one asks about the state of statistics in this continent, it is a mixed bag, given that some countries are making really good progress and others are not. For example, in the 2020 census round, 39 African countries conducted their census. The rest could not be counted and by December 2024, one in three people had not been counted on the continent. This is unfortunate and has implications for delivery and development.
Right now, we have countries that can’t modernize their math systems. Another focus now is to see how we can help countries modernize and transform their national statistical systems. This means moving away from the traditional way of collecting data using paper-based systems to modernizing data collection using gadgets such as tablets and mobile phones. We help countries modernize and transform their national mathematics systems. However, several countries face challenges in the process of developing and implementing modern systems. The biggest challenge is access to technology. Technology is driven by energy. Without power, you cannot have effective, technology-driven systems in the country. Access to effective internet services allows countries to collect information using gadgets.
IPS: What achievements have been made and what challenges have been faced?
Change: African countries have made really good progress in conducting censuses. In previous census rounds, countries used to take two to five years to collect and disseminate data, but with modern systems, this has been reduced to 45 days in some countries. This is a big milestone.
ECA launched a program of mathematical leadership, which led to changes across the continent. In this program, mathematicians are kept up-to-date and introduced to the methods of managing mathematical systems, thereby building their skills globally.
The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) exposed the vulnerability of African national statistical systems both in their general operations, and in particular, in their data collection activities in this field. To address these challenges, the ECA has developed capacity and provided technical support to Member States in the production and distribution of economic statistics that are consistent and comparable with national accounts, following international statistical standards.
IPS: What should be done to help those countries that have failed to count their population, which means it will have an impact on the SDGs?
Change: For countries that have progressed towards the SDGs, they need support to accelerate their progress so that by 2030 they can reach those SDGs.
Governments should invest more in data and analytics. They don’t have to wait for others including development partners to do it for them. This is their data. All governments recognize the importance of data. But if it is important, then they should prioritize what is important. What is needed is resources, prioritization, and ensuring that data and statistics are part of national development processes by creating a national statistics strategy.
IPS: The ECA has developed a roadmap for reforming and modernizing official statistics in Africa from 2023 to 2030. What progress has been made in implementing this?
Change: We have made great progress. For example, during the 2020 census cycle, countries are using tablets to collect data. That is modernization. In other words, moving away from traditional methods of data collection.
In addition, with the Consumer Price Index, data collectors can go online and look up the prices of consumer goods or go to supermarkets and scan the data. That is part of modernity. In addition, countries are now using what we call administrative data. That is part of modern systems. Records in health centers or hospitals are now being converted into digital forms for digital collection.
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© Inter Press Service (2025) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
