The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) participated, from March 4 to 7, in New York, USA, in the 56th Session of the UN Statistical Commission, which gathered representatives of National Statistical Offices of 192 countries and dozens of civil society entities from all over the world. 

The IBGE delegation, formed by the president, Marcio Pochmann, by deputy directors of the Directorate of Surveys, Vladimir Gonçalves Miranda, and of the Directorate of Geosciences, Gustavo de Carvalho Cayres da Silva, besides the special advisor to the presidency, Cimar Azeredo Pereira, and the head of the IBGE's Institutional Relations Department, Andrea Diniz da Silva, also attended, throughout the week, events of a side program, bilateral meetings with representatives of partner countries, including BRICS members and international bodies. 

In the 56th Session, the IBGE delegation participated in discussions and decision making processes related to relevant topics of interest to national statistical offices, such as: Population Censuses, Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, System of National Accounts, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, social, demographic, economic, crime and justice, food security, environmental statistics. 

According to the president of the IBGE, Marcio Pochmann, “this edition of the meeting of the UN Statistical Commission has made a great difference as there is doubt the discussions about technological innovations, new sources of data, artificial intelligence, among others, are more active. Another fundamental aspect of the Commission is the commitment to disseminate best practices and strengthen national and international statistical systems and this agenda has been treated in an effective way here, together with the fundamental priciples of official statistics."

The diplomat in charge of statistical issues in the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN, Bruno Palazon Imparato, says that “the decided and propositive participation of Brazil in the 56th session of the UN Statistical Commission is an essential step for a country that has been preparing to come back to the agency and an elected member in 2026”.

The Brazilian delegation discussed topics in the main agenda and gave talks on behalf of Brazil and of  Latin America and the Caribbean, with special emphasis on economic issues such as the approval of the update of the new System of National Accounts, which discusses measures of aspects related to welfare and the use of data science and artificial intelligence for economic statistics. 

In the realm of social statistics, the approval of the implementation of 2020 Censuses and the proposal for the implementation of 2030 Census programswere also discussed. The joint declaration for Latin America and the Caribbean about the topic of population and social statisitcs was carried out by the IBGE in recognition of the importance of these topics and of the gains that can result from the incorportation of geolocation dtata and administrative records for these areas. Within data science, a proposal is the creation of a special task force for the study of artificial intelligence for official statistics. “As for side sessions, it is worth mentioning the discussion about the future of national statistical institutes in the combat to the dissemination of misinformation," said the deputy director of surveys, Vladimir Gonçalves Miranda.

Participation in the 56th Session of the UN Statistical Commission also represented an opportunity for the IBGE to present a relevant position regarding the environmental agenda and on the integration of geospatial and statistical information, environmental and climate change statistics and censuses, in discussions such as the one conducted by the Expert Group on Environment Statistics (EG-ECCS), about the UN statistical program. According to Gustavo Cayres, deputy director of Geosceicnes, “the relevance of IBGE's participation in expert groups in each area provides important material for side events to the Commission, as a way to highlight activities in the tehcnical areas and the relevance of partnerships and interlocution with other actors, for example, the participation in the Expert Group in the integration of geospatial and statistical information (EG-ISGI)”.

Besides the main agenda and side events, the IBGE participated in a number of bilateral meetimhs with the objective of strengthening and expanding partnerships with natioanl statistical offices and international bodies. The stronger South-South cooperation had its place in the meeting with presidents and other representatives of statistical offices in Namibia, Chile and the United Kingdom, discussing, respectively, the support to the conduction of the Census of Agriculture and for the use of geospatial data, the cooperation for access to data from the 2022 Census with reference to the count of persons from Chile living in Brazil and the resumption of a cooperation agreement between the IBGE and the ONS.

The remainder is temporarily in Portuguese. 

Projetos com o PNUD e GPSDD

Nesta semana de eventos o IBGE realizou duas reuniões com o Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD). Com a diretora do PNUD para América Latina e Caribe, Michelli Muschett, foi debatida a organização conjunta de eventos para discutir a agenda de desenvolvimento humano, envolvendo os países do BRICS, do MERCOSUL e da CPLP (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa), em especial no contexto da COP30.

Com Pedro Conceição, diretor do Escritório do Relatório de Desenvolvimento Humano, foi discutida parceria para a produção do Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano para pequenas áreas, para a validação dos indicadores da plataforma Human Climate Horizon, assim como avançar em projetos com uso de imagens de satélite para acompanhar as mudanças no território, em especial em áreas para as quais a produção estatística não é suficiente para acompanhar as mudanças nos períodos intercensitários.

E com a Parceria Global para Dados para o Desenvolvimento (GPSDD), o IBGE discutiu os progressos em relação a parceria com o Ministério do Meio Ambiente para produção de indicadores de mudanças climáticas, ação que conta com o apoio da GPSDD por meio da iniciativa Power of Data, além de iniciar entendimentos para a realização de um evento envolvendo os 8 países que dividem a Floresta Amazônica  (Peru, Equador, Colômbia, Venezuela, Bolívia, Guiana, Suriname e Guiana Francesa), para discutir uma agenda comum relaciona com os desafios para a proteção da biodiversidade. Para a chefe de relações internacionais, Andrea Diniz da Silva, “a agenda conjunta com outros institutos de estatística e com organismos internacionais é importante para que o IBGE recupere o protagonismo no cenário internacional e o papel de liderança na comunidade estatística, em especial na América Latina e Caribe”.

BRICS

O IBGE, a frente da presidência pró tempore dos BRICS em 2025, composto atualmente por 11 países (Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China, África do Sul, Iran, Arábia Saudita Egito, Indonésia, Emirados Árabes Unidos, Etiópia), promoveu, na Missão do Brasil na ONU, em Nova Iorque, o 1º Encontro de 2025 dos Chefes do Institutos de Estatística dos países dos BRICS.

No evento o IBGE apresentou uma proposta consolidada de indicadores da era digital para os países dos BRICS e para o Sul Global, além da criação de grupos de trabalho para analisar indicadores econômicos, sociais e ambientais no âmbito dos BRICS e a agenda de trabalho para 2025 (leia mais aqui. Para Cimar Azeredo, assessor da presidência, “o encontro foi uma oportunidade do IBGE apresentar propostas que têm como objetivo promover uma visão mais clara das potencialidade dos BRICS através da produção e análises consolidas de indicadores do grupo”.