NPC Forum stresses role of statistics in tackling development challenges

Qatar Tribune

23-05-2025

Tribune News Network
Doha
The National Planning Council (NPC), represented by the National Statistics Centre, on Wednesday hosted a nationwide forum entitled 'Forum on Statistical Integration in Social, Environmental and Human Development Domains to Support Decision-Makers: Challenges and Prospects'.
The forum examined the current landscape of national indicators and evaluated their integration across social, environmental, and human development fields using a multidimensional statistical and analytical approach.
The forum gathered representatives from various government entities in data production and utilisation, international organisations and technical bodies responsible for classifications and methodological standards.
Among those represented were prominent research centres, academic institutions and a distinguished group of decision-makers, analysts and statistics experts.
In his opening speech, NPC Secretary-General Dr. Abdulaziz bin Nasser bin Mubarak Al Khalifa said, 'The theme of this forum directly aligns with the objectives of the Third National Development Strategy, which places people and the environment at its heart. It seeks to promote social justice, environmental sustainability, and the well-being of Qatari society, today and into the future. This ambition cannot be achieved without an integrated statistical system capable of accurately and clearly measuring progress and evaluating performance.'
He added, 'As we continue our work under Qatar National Vision 2030, we emphasise that social, environmental, and human development statistics are not merely numbers. They tell the story of the Qatari society and environment. They reveal challenges, help define priorities and unlock opportunities to support the nation's strategic direction towards a thriving society.'
Ahmed Hassan Al Obaidly, director-general of the National Statistics Centre at the National Planning Council, said: 'This forum is organised around the critical role of statistics in enabling multidimensional analysis of national data, and empowering decision-makers to address the challenges of comprehensive development.''
In his keynote address, Mohammed Jassim Al Buainain, director of the Department of Social and Environmental Statistics, said: 'In recent years, Qatar has seen notable improvements across multiple national indicators. In education, the gross enrolment rate in higher education increased from 17.4 percent in 2014 to 37.6 percent in 2023.
'In the environmental field, the proportion of wastewater treated at designated plants rose from 95.6 percent in 2013 to 99.6 percent in 2023, while the rate of overfishing dropped significantly from 18.6 percent to 8.0 percent between 2013 and 2024. In terms of human development, life expectancy at birth among Qataris rose from 79.6 years in 2013 to 81.7 years in 2022.'
The Forum on Statistical Integration aims to develop an interconnected map of national indicators encompassing the social, environmental and human development to formulate technical recommendations on methodologies for producing and analysing multidimensional composite indicators.
Sessions featured in-depth discussions on the conceptual framework for multi-domain statistical integration, advanced analytical models for generating composite indicators and methodological alignment with international organisations. Additional topics included implementing global technical guidelines and standardising terminology and concepts at the national level.