DoSM submitted some 38 written national statements and delivered 10 virtual oral statements during the event 

By AZALEA AZUAR / Pic By MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

MALAYSIA took part in the United Nations Statistical Commission’s (UNSC) second virtual statistics commission from Feb 28 to March 2. 

Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin (picture) led the delegation and submitted 38 written national statements and delivered 10 virtual oral statements, among which was on the necessity of data stewardship in the National Statistical System. 

Malaysia highlighted to the commission the importance of data stewardship, population and housing censuses, gender statistics, health statistics, environmental-economic accounting, national account, ICT statistics, agriculture and rural statistics, informal economy statistics and big data.

In the margins of this statistical commission, Malaysia’s initiatives to collect health data and provide advance estimates of GDP during the pandemic were also shared. 

For population and housing census, Malaysia’s delegates encouraged modernisation through the use of ICT and digitisation, citing the country’s achievements and successes in implementing the Malaysia Population and Housing Census 2020 at a critical moment when many countries had postponed its implementation. 

“The continued involvement will ensure full alignment with global statistical standards to expand coverage, relevance, timeliness, and comparable data and statistics that are in line with international good practices, scientific and ethical principles. 

“DoSM as the central agency and single point of data entry for official national statistics will continue to be actively involved and supportive to improve coverage of many vital statistical indicators as well as to provide reliable official statistics that are relevant to the policy that will benefit the whole National Statistical System and the wellbeing of society,” Mohd Uzir said in a statement yesterday. 

Over 300 delegations from 100 nations took part in the second virtual statistics commission where it covered 25 areas of work in official statistics. 

The UNSC, the UN’s top decision-making body, meets annually with the goal of promoting official statistics. 

It is made up of approximately 193 UN member countries and international organisations. 

UNSC is influential in the formation of national statistical systems where statistical standards, guidelines, classifications, methodologies and concepts are developed, discussed and endorsed for implementation at the national and international level.