MALAYSIA REINFORCES GLOBAL STATISTICAL ROLE AT UNSC57

PUTRAJAYA, March 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the mandate of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) by actively participating in the 57th Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC57), held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from March 3 to 6.

In a statement, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said the participation reflects the country’s commitment to advancing statistical innovation, strengthening international cooperation and ensuring that official statistics remain the primary foundation for evidence-based policymaking and sustainable development.

bootstrap slideshow

The Malaysian delegation was led by Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, accompanied by Senior Director of the Population and Demographic Statistics Division Wan Mohd Shahrulnizam Wan Mohd Najuri.

“During UNSC57, Malaysia actively engaged across the commission’s various agendas by submitting 31 national written statements and nine oral statements covering areas such as social, economic and environmental statistics, digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI), data science and statistical modernisation.

“Malaysia also highlighted several key DOSM initiatives, including strengthening data governance, developing Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicators, measuring well-being, demographic and business statistics, as well as expanding open data dissemination,” the statement said.

Among the innovations showcased were the DOSM GeoHub, which integrates official statistics with geospatial data, the Malaysian Well-being Index (MyWI), the implementation of the 2024 Agricultural Census, and digital platforms such as TaniStats 2.0 and MakGeoPadi, which expand access to more detailed agricultural data.

The statement added that Malaysia’s progress in improving data accessibility and usability has gained international recognition, with the country ranking first globally in the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) 2024/2025, reflecting its strong commitment to statistical transparency and data innovation.

Mohd Uzir said the UNSC serves as the world’s most important platform for shaping the future of official statistics, particularly as nations face rapid digital transformation and the emergence of a new data ecosystem driven by technology.

“In an era of rapid digital transformation, the demand for more granular data and the emergence of a new data ecosystem driven by artificial intelligence and big data make a strong and resilient national statistical system increasingly critical,” he said.

Outside the official sessions, the Malaysian delegation also participated in several high-level forums, expert group meetings and side events, including a forum on artificial intelligence readiness for official statistics, a meeting of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Household Surveys, and an official statistics forum themed “Beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP)”.

Malaysia was also invited to serve as a panellist in a session on strengthening the agricultural census system among Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries, as well as in high-level discussions on the use of statistics to accelerate multidimensional poverty reduction by 2030.

UNSC57 brought together nearly 500 participants from 96 countries, 44 international organisations and five non-governmental organisations, with approximately 372 written statements and 81 side events focusing on efforts to strengthen the credibility, comparability and sustainability of global statistics.

-- BERNAMA