In 1994, the ICPD agreed on a Programme of Action (PoA) that recognized the fundamental importance of population and development data for government planning and monitoring. It put a special emphasis on the need for more accurate data to define women’s social and economic status, and stressed data disaggregation to understand and address the needs of people pushed furthest behind.
Since then, recurring calls for improving data systems and capacities have echoed these recommendations. The United Nations Secretary-General recently called for a “data revolution” to equip all national governments with data systems to track and achieve the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and related international commitments.
In 2024, the thirtieth anniversary of the ICPD provides a moment to reflect on progress and gaps in population data and to outline key pathways to achieve future-ready data systems for the post- 2030 global development agenda.
