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Data and Statistics

Data and statistical analysis in the Asia and Pacific region contribute to knowledge generation in ADB, helping strengthen its institutional priorities and operational effectiveness in its developing member economies.

Economic and Social Statistics

Economic and Social Statistics

Data goes hand in hand with empowerment. High quality data, with its power to inform and drive action, is needed more than ever.

ADB acknowledges the need for reliable, timely, granular, and integrated data, as well as innovative ways to produce them, to guide economic and social development to ensure that nobody is left behind. To aid in evidence-based policymaking, ADB produces key knowledge resources and partners with statistics agencies in Asia and the Pacific to improve the region's capability to produce effective statistics.

Trusted Data in the Asia and Pacific

The Asia and the Pacific region underwent pronounced social and economic transformations in the past two decades and emerged as a key player in the global economy. From a 4% share of global GDP in 1960 to almost 35% in 2019, the region's economic growth has led to a dramatic drop in the number of people living below $1.90 a day, from 1.5 billion in 1990 to 263 million in 2015.

The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to reverse part of these achievements. We forecast that, for the first time in almost 60 years, developing countries in Asia will face negative growth in 2020, leading to an additional 78 million people living below $1.90 a day.

To contain and mitigate the consequences of the pandemic, governments require trusted, high quality and timely data to understand unfolding events and their impact, as well as policy options and their potential outcomes.

Data Resources

ADB collaborates with national and international institutions to produce comprehensive and up-to-date statistics across fields and integrate domestic economic structures into a regional framework, allowing impact assessment studies on critical events affecting the region.

Key Indicators Database

ADB's central statistical database and one of the world's most comprehensive resources tor macroeconomic and social indicators from across Asia and the Pacific, updated with the annual editions of the Key Indicators publication series.

Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2022

This publication provides updated statistics on a comprehensive set of economic, financial, social, and environmental measures as well as select indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals.

  More on the Key Indicators
  Key Indicators publication series

Basic Statistics

Presents data on selected social, economic, and SDG indicators such as population, poverty, annual growth rate of gross domestic product, inflation, and government finance for economies in Asia and the Pacific.

  Latest Basic Statistics
  Basic Statistics publication series

International Comparison Program (ICP) Database

ADB collaborates with the World Bank in the International Comparison Program in order to provide accurate and comparable price and volume measures of national accounts aggregates for the program’s Asia and the Pacific component.

  More on the ICP
  Latest ICP results
  ICP publication series

COVID-19 Policy Database

Information on the policy measures and the funding sources that ADB members have undertaken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social Protection Indicator Database

Repository of country-level data on social protection programs in Asia and the Pacific, providing an internationally comparable database of government-financed programs including expenditure, coverage, size of benefits and distributional impact on poverty and gender.

Methodological Research and Technical Studies

ADB undertakes in-depth research on statistical methodology, development policy, and current issues relevant to producing official statistics.

Satellite Imagery and Statistics

Valuable and actionable statistics can come from the most unlikely places, even from space. ADB is collaborating with key partners to explore how information from satellites provide broader perspectives in areas such as economic and agricultural statistics that complement the value of ground-based observations.

Key Resources:
Mapping Poverty through Data Integration and Artificial Intelligence
Use of Remote Sensing to Estimate Paddy Area and Production
Mapping the Public Voice for Development—Natural Language Processing of Social Media Text Data

Statistical Collection and Dissemination

Traditional methods for collecting and disseminating official statistics saw significant gains from the use of modern internet-based technologies. ADB conducts rigorous research into developing innovative strategies and enhancing existing methodologies that are relevant to statistics-producing agencies worldwide.

Key Resources:
The CAPI Effect: Boosting Survey Data Through Mobile Technology
User Guide for ADB Statistical Business Register
SDMX for Disseminating Economic Statistics

Multi-Sectoral Statistics

Statistics play a valuable role in emerging issues in Asia and the Pacific across a wide range of themes. ADB collaborates with regional stakeholders and international experts to produce sound research and critical analysis that provide reliable information for evidence-based policymaking.

Key Resources:
Measuring Asset Ownership and Entrepreneurship from A Gender Perspective

Statistical Capacity Building

ADB partners with its developing member countries (DMCs) through programs that bolster capabilities of national statistics offices (NSOs) and national statistical systems (NSSs) in producing high-quality, timely, and relevant data across multiple domains, and promoting the use of technological innovation and non-traditional data. Ongoing and recently-completed projects include:

Data for Development

A series of technical assistance (TA) projects that will strengthen the capacity of Asia and the Pacific NSOs in meeting the increasing data demands for policymaking and monitoring of development goals and targets.

Capacity Development of the National Statistical System (Myanmar)

This TA will support Myanmar's NSS and the technical and statistical skills of its staff, enabling the country to adopt international standards in collecting, compiling, and disseminating comparable official statistics.

ICT Tools to Improve Data Collection and Management of National Surveys

Focuses on the use of ICT tools, such as computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), in improving the data collection methods of NSSs for nationally-representative surveys in selected DMCs in support of the SDGs.

Using SDMX for Streamlining the Dissemination of Statistical Information

A workshop designed with international development partners to promote the use of Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) as a single standard for interoperable data sharing and dissemination in the region.

Open Online Courses on Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing for Improved Data Collection

Provides in-depth training in designing and implementing CAPI for more timely and accurate statistics.

Statistical Business Registers for Improved Information on Small, Medium-sized, and Large Enterprises

Established the use of Statistical Business Registers (SBR) in Asia and the Pacific NSOs, and provided training in leveraging establishment data for informed policymaking.

Updating and Constructing the Supply and Use Tables for Selected Developing Member Economies

A project designed to build adequate NSO capacity in ADB's DMCs to produce supply and use tables, input-output tables, and trade-in-value-added statistics.

Development of New Statistical Resources and Building Capacity in New Data Sources and Technologies

This knowledge and support technical assistance is designed to create a broad set of use cases for these data tools that can be broadly categorized as Big Data and advanced statistical tools, such as satellite accounts and seasonal adjustment of economic indicators.