Paper by Open Data Watch and Paris21: “Deep cuts in development financing for statistics, legitimacy issues, rapid technological change like AI, and rising expectations for more inclusive and participatory data are colliding with long-standing weaknesses in trust, capacity, and data use. For many national statistical offices (NSOs), particularly in low- and middle-income countries, this convergence amounts to a systemic data crisis that threatens their relevance, credibility, and sustainability. At the same time, these pressures create a rare opportunity to rethink how data systems are designed, governed, and embedded in society.
This paper argues that the statistical community has reached a fork in the road. Incremental adjustment alone may no longer be sufficient. Countries and the international community face a strategic choice between two broad paths, each with distinct implications for legitimacy, financing, risk, and equity. Rather than prescribing a single solution, the paper aims to provoke informed debate ahead of the 57th Session of the UN Statistical Commission…(More)”.
