SESRIC participated in the Regional Workshop on the Use of Administrative Data in the 2030 Census Round, jointly organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), from 19 to 23 October 2026 in Ankara, Republic of Türkiye. The workshop brought together national statistical offices from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, together with UNFPA and other international partners, to discuss preparations for the 2030 census round and the increasing use of administrative data in census-taking.

The workshop aimed to strengthen the capacities of participating countries in implementing the recently endorsed United Nations Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses (Revision 4) and to facilitate the transition towards combined and register-based census approaches. Sessions covered census methods and operations, the integration of administrative and geospatial data, data quality and coverage, data analysis and dissemination, and risk management and contingency planning.

In the session “Development of a detailed Action Plan / Road Map for the 2030 census round”, Mr Seyid Tahir Mahmud, Senior Statistics Officer at SESRIC, delivered a presentation titled “Enhancing Cooperation and Collaboration in the Area of Population and Housing Census Statistics: SESRIC Efforts in Support of OIC Member Countries.”

The presentation outlined SESRIC’s mandate and ongoing efforts to support OIC Member Countries in strengthening their statistical systems, with particular emphasis on population and housing census statistics, administrative registers and geospatial information systems.

The presentation highlighted the role of the OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), for which SESRIC serves as the Secretariat, in promoting statistical cooperation and experience sharing among OIC Member Countries. Reference was made to the key priorities of the OIC-StatCom Strategic Vision for 2030, noting that statistical modernisation, the use of alternative data sources, administrative registers and statistical quality improvement remain among the strategic areas guiding cooperation among national statistical systems across OIC Member Countries.

The presentation further showcased findings from the OIC-StatCom monitoring surveys, which show that 17 of the 23 responding national statistical offices have a legal framework enabling the use of administrative data, and 20 of 22 use geospatial technologies or electronic data collection in censuses and surveys. It also highlighted SESRIC’s Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, which has served as a key platform for facilitating South-South and triangular cooperation among OIC Member Countries through training courses, workshops, study visits, technical missions and webinars.

In addition, the participants were informed about SESRIC’s efforts in supporting population and housing census programmes through a series of regional workshops, training activities and statistical experience-sharing events organised in cooperation with international partners, including UNSD, UNFPA, UNECE, ESCAP, ESCWA and national statistical offices. Particular attention was given to activities focusing on register-based census approaches, administrative registers, civil registration systems and the integration of geospatial technologies into census operations. For 2027, SESRIC plans a StatCaB training course on population and housing censuses and a workshop on the use of administrative registers.

SESRIC remains committed to working closely with regional and international organisations and national statistical offices to support OIC Member Countries in modernising their population and housing census systems and enhancing the use of administrative data for the 2030 census round.

For more information on the workshop, please visit: https://eeca.unfpa.org/en/events/regional-workshop-use-administrative-data-2entity3entity-census-round

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