Communiqué de presse

55th session of the UN Statistical Commission Switzerland elected Chair of the UN Statistical Commission

27.02.2024 - The 55th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission opened on Monday 27 February 2024 with the election of its Bureau. The Director General of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Georges-Simon Ulrich, has been elected Chair for the coming year. Comprising five member countries (Switzerland, Mexico, Tunisia, Slovenia and South Corea), the Bureau moderates the Statistical Commission's discussions and is responsible for reporting the results.

Created in 1947, the UN Statistical Commission is the supreme body of the global statistical system and brings together the world's chief statisticians. Made up of 24 United Nations member countries, its functions are to promote the development of statistics at national level, to improve their comparability and to advise the various United Nations bodies on matters relating to the interpretation and dissemination of statistical data. The Statistical Commission acts as a high-level forum for deliberations, knowledge sharing and the pooling of data and statistical practices. It also develops international standards, tools and methods for statistics and promotes innovation in the data and statistics system. As a member of the Bureau of the UN Statistical Commission, Georges-Simon Ulrich will be particularly keen to share Switzerland's experience concerning the FSO's three fields of expertise, namely statistics, national data management and data science.

At its 55th session, being held from 27 February to 1 March 2024 in New York, the Commission will address a wide range of topics, including the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, the composition and working methods of the Statistical Commission, data and indicators relating to the 2030 Agenda, data science, agricultural and rural statistics, international statistical classifications and gender statistics. Switzerland intends to address in particular issues such as data governance, new technologies, statistics for the 2030 Agenda and the funding of data.

An event on artificial intelligence (AI) and gender will also be organised jointly by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office and the UN body UN Women. The opportunities that AI has to offer will be discussed as well as solutions to reduce gender gaps in the digital labour market and gender representation within AI.