Artificial intelligence and disinformation were among the topics discussed at UN and OECD statistical forums in Geneva

The President of NSI, Assoc. Prof. Atanas Atanasov, PhD and the Head of the International Relations and Projects Department, Maria Gochova, took part in two consecutive events held in Geneva this week – the 73rd plenary session of the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) and the 22nd meeting of the Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The topics on the agenda of this year’s Conference of European Statisticians included: the use of non-traditional data sources on migration and human mobility, dealing with misinformation and the misuse of data, changes and innovations in survey-taking, the use of administrative data to compile statistics on hard-to-reach groups, challenges in accessing privately held data, and more. Strategic directions in the work of statistical offices of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) member states were also debated. Guidelines on measuring well-being and ethics in modern statistical organisations were presented. The progress made and lessons learned in the process of providing statistics for the achievement of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals were reviewed.

Immediately after the CES plenary session, the NSI representatives took part in the 22nd meeting of the Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy of the OECD. During the event, representatives of member states discussed opportunities and challenges of using artificial intelligence (AI) in the process of producing official statistics, as well as the readiness of national statistical offices for the implementation of AI. The participants also discussed the introduction and implementation of the updated versions of the System of National Accounts (SNA) and the Balance of Payments Manual (BPM), distribution of household new wealth in OECD countries, childcare expenditure and others.