Addis Ababa |October 21, 2026
The 10th session of the African Statistical Commission (StatCom-Africa) is currently taking place at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) headquarters in Addis Ababa under the theme: “Unlocking the Value of Data in Africa: Making Official Statistics a True Reflection of the Real Africa”
.”In his opening address, the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H.E. Mr. Taye Atske Selassie, stated that the true value of data lies not merely in its collection, but in transforming it into verified, actionable knowledge that improves the real lives of citizens and drives the continent’s growth.
President Taye called upon African governments and international partners to allocate domestic budget funding to strengthen the independence and technical capacity of National Statistical Offices (NSOs). He also highlighted the need for robust legal and regulatory frameworks to guarantee data privacy, build public trust, and safeguard the continent’s strategic data resources. Furthermore, he reaffirmed Ethiopia’s commitment to accelerating its transformation journey through data-driven leadership and building institutional trust.
Also speaking at the opening session, H.E. Mr. Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), emphasized that statistical systems must accurately reflect Africa’s current socio-economic reality, the nuances of the informal economic sector, and demographic movements. He urged African nations to modernize their statistical systems by leveraging digital technologies, Big Data, administrative data systems, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to improve the speed and scope of data collection.
H.E. Dr. Beker Shale, Director General of the Ethiopian Statistics Service, shared in his remarks that over the past three years, the Service has focused on institutional capacity building, updating statistical legal frameworks, and expanding data availability—achieving tangible results. He explained that efforts to ensure institutional transformation will continue to be strengthened and expressed gratitude to the government, domestic and international partner organizations, and stakeholders who supported their institutional capacity-building efforts.
The summit includes side events and technical discussions focused on strengthening statistical capacity, harmonizing population and housing census standards, and fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships to advance data-driven governance across Africa.
The conference is being attended by heads and representatives of statistical offices across the continent, statistics experts, policy analysts, and international partners.
