Data and statistics

• Timely quality data, statistics and analytics are key to digital transformation. They help enhance faster-paced, forward-looking decision- and policy-making and competitiveness in digital societies.
• It is often said that what gets measured gets done. Data and benchmarking, monitoring and evaluation play a vital role in informing policy-making in: understanding an issue in depth, informing policy responses; measuring progress and understanding what worked, what did not work and why. This has been called a 'virtuous circle' in policy-making, whereby the results of regular surveys and benchmarking ideally feed back into the design of policies.
• As the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technology (ICT), ITU is the official source for global ICT statistics.
• ITU collects, verifies and harmonizes telecommunication/ICT statistics for about 200 economies and over 100 indicators worldwide, including price information, regulatory indicators, access indicators, usage indicators and household indicators. The principal audiences for these data include policy-makers, academic researchers, industry analysts, regulators, legislators and consumers. A large amount of raw data and statistics are available free of charge.
• ITU publishes regional and global statistical reports and statistical manuals and framework documents to help guide countries in their data collection efforts.
• ITU is official custodian of a number of UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators (4.4.1, 5.b.1, 9.c.1, 17.6.2 and 17.8.1) and responsible for tracking them at the international level. ITU has also developed a SDG Mapping Tool that illustrates how ITU activities contribute to the SDGs.​
  

• ​ITU holds various responsibilities for data and statistics, deriving partly from its treaties (e.g. the International Telecommunication Regulations, Radio Regulations) and also from its Resolutions and Recommendations.
• ITU has the responsibility for formal collection and reporting of global and national data and statistics for telecommunication/ICT within the United Nations system, including data used by international organizations (e.g. World Bank) and outside (e.g. the World Economic Forum, Internet World Stats and Statista). The Organization is also the custodian of a number of Sustainable Development Goals indicators (4.4.1, 5.b.1, 9.c.1, 17.6.2 and 17.8.1) and responsible for tracking them at the international level.
  
  ITU collects two key sets of data directly from countries: 1) Telecommunication/ICT data from national telecommunication/ICT ministries and regulatory authorities. These include supply-side data on the fixed-telephone network, mobile-cellular services, Internet/broadband, traffic, revenues and investment; and prices of ICT services. 2) Household ICT data collected from national statistical offices; these include demand-side data on household access to ICTs and individual use of ICTs.
• ITU tracks the Connect 2030 Agenda to monitor progress towards a set of key indicators agreed by ITU membership as well as the WSIS and Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development targets.
• ITU collects data from its Member States via annual questionnaires sent to ministries/regulators and national statistical offices. The data are published in the Yearbook of Statistics and the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, and analyzed in various statistical reports.
• ITU works closely with regional and international bodies (through the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, which includes various UN agencies, OECD and Eurostat and country experts) on developing international definitions, standards and methodologies and harmonizing telecommunication/ICT data. The Organization also convenes meetings and consultations of the Expert Group on Telecommunication Indicators (EGTI) and Expert Group on Household Indicators (EGH) to debate the latest measurement issues and definitions for indicators collected by ITU.
• ITU works with countries to ensure that data are defined and collected in a standardized way. ITU provides capacity building and technical assistance to Member States in the area of ICT measurement through regional workshops and the provision of training materials and manuals.
• The “World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium" (WTIS) is the key global forum to discuss ICT measurement issues.

What else does ITU measure?

• In 2014, ITU Member States set a global e-waste target for 2023. Reliable official data and statistics on infrastructure and e-waste provide the foundation for sound e-waste legislation and management at the national level. To date, 41 countries are compiling comparable national statistics on e-waste.
• ITU produces a number of indices, including the Global Cybersecurity Index.
• ITU also monitors and measures telecom/ICT regulatory frameworks, through its Regulatory Tracker.​

Last update: November 2019 ​

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