The 73rd plenary session of the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is taking place in Geneva (Switzerland) from 16 to 18 June 2025. The National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus is represented at the event by Mr Aliaksei Yarkavets, Deputy Chairperson of Belstat.
The meeting addresses a number of issues of relevance for the international statistical community, such as strategic directions in the work of statistical offices, dealing with misuse of data and misinformation, work on modernization of official statistics, coordination of international statistical activities in the UNECE region.
The Conference will discuss the results of in-depth reviews conducted by the CES Bureau and endorse a number of practical guidelines and recommendations prepared by thematic task forces under the CES.
1. During the session on changes and innovations in survey-taking the experience of the Republic of Belarus in conducting household sample surveys which are an integral part of the national data ecosystem was presented.
Answering questions from the audience, Aliaksei Yarkavets noted that currently the global challenge for national statistical offices is to attract and retain a network of respondents for household sample surveys.
The Deputy Chairperson of Belstat said that for many years Belstat has been successfully coping with this challenge. The state statistics bodies have developed an adaptive functional strategy of interaction with respondents which ensures the level of participation in sample surveys above 95 per cent.
Aliaksei Yarkavets shared Belstat's experience: "The predominant method of conducting surveys is a personal interview with respondent, when the interviewer creates an atmosphere of trust, can explain the survey objectives and promptly answer questions that arise. A single toll-free telephone number is also available to answer respondents' questions. Positive attitude towards the state statistics bodies is created by letters of invitation to participate in the survey sent to respondents".
"Importance is given to professional training and maintaining the level of competence of interviewers. Most of them have many years of experience in conducting interviews, and new specialists undergo special training for admission to work. Subject-matter specialists are engaged to train interviewers to conduct specialised sample surveys," said Deputy Chairperson of Belstat.
Aliaksei Yarkavets paid special attention to the technological efficiency of the primary statistical data collection process.
"We have been using tablet computers for the interviews for a long time: it reduces communication time and affects the responsiveness of respondents. At the same time, as part of the improvement of the system of primary statistical data collection, Belstat is currently aiming at the implementation of the possibility for respondents to keep diary entries online. This will increase the coverage and efficiency of collection and processing of primary statistical data," summarised the Deputy Chairperson of Belstat.
2. When discussing the Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2030 round of population and housing censuses, submitted for endorsement at the CES plenary session, Aliaksei Yarkavets informed the audience that Belstat has already started preparatory work for the 2029 population census of the Republic of Belarus, work is underway to improve the legal framework of the population census.
"The innovation of the upcoming population census will be the creation of a statistical population register that will allow for the unification of state information resources (systems) for recording individuals and will become the basis for conducting subsequent population censuses. The statistical population register will ensure the efficient use of administrative data, will optimize the process of collecting personal data, will reduce the burden on respondents and will reduce the costs of conducting censuses in the future," the Deputy Chairperson of Belstat revealed plans for the upcoming census.
3. With the emergence of new data sources Big Data, artificial intelligence, etc.) and data-driven decision-making, compliance with ethical principles such as integrity, transparency, confidentiality and accountability in modern statistical organizations is becoming critical. For this purpose, Ethics in Modern Statistical Organizations - a guide was submitted for endorsement by the CES.
Presenting his position on this issue, Aliaksei Yarkavets emphasized: “At all stages of statistical production, Belstat ensures compliance with ethical standards for working with data based on the national principles of state statistics of the Republic of Belarus, harmonized with the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. Belstat has also developed and implemented a set of ethical rules for working with data.”
4. With the growing need for greater openness, transparency and efficiency, many statistical organizations are moving from traditional proprietary software to open source software.
"When developing new systems and upgrading existing ones, Belstat makes the use of open source software a mandatory requirement. Examples of such implemented solutions are the Interactive Information and Analytical System for the Dissemination of Official Statistical Information, the National Reporting Platform for Sustainable Development Goal Indicators, and the Information and Analytical System "Population Censuses Data of the Republic of Belarus".
Besides, Belstat uses the R programming language when producing official statistics," the Deputy Chairperson of Belstat briefly outlined the state of affairs in the Republic of Belarus.
5. Integration of geospatial and statistical data is one of the most promising ways to maximize the value of data for decision-making. Global efforts to promote data integration are presented in the document "Collaboration on the integration of geospatial and statistical data in the region of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe".
When discussing the document, Aliaksei Yarkavets emphasized that Belarus is actively strengthening its capacity in terms of integration of geospatial and statistical data.
"Official statistical information on various statistical domains for 2019-2024 has been uploaded to the IAS “Geostatistics”. Also, as part of the in-depth integration of geospatial and statistical data, SDG indicators are calculated using GIS. Currently, there are already 10 such indicators, and the work continues," noted the Deputy Chairperson of Belstat.
The information presented by the Republic of Belarus during the CES plenary session aroused great interest among the international expert community.
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