OECD Second World Forum

How effectively are we measuring progress and how well are we communicating that to public opinion and policymakers? Is any of it making a difference? These were some of the key questions addressed by the OECD Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, which took place in Istanbul 27-29 June and drew over 1,400 people from multinational organizations, government, business, academia and civil society.

There was broad agreement that new challenges in the 21st century have created a need to widen the definition of progress beyond the traditional yardstick of GDP to include civic rights and freedoms, accountability and governance, environmental sustainability and even people’s happiness. But debate continues about how we measure some of these things.

The importance of making statistics more accessible to the public, and the way in which they can help create better policies and democracy, was also highlighted. On the other hand, several recent studies presented at the Forum showed that statistics are less important than ideology in shaping public opinion, while Columbia University’s Professor Ken Prewitt challenged the audience to think about how different groups (media, political leaders, civil society, academics) use – and sometimes abuse – indicators. Among third sector representatives, Social Watch talked about how they are generating new data and indicator sets to supplement measures often overlooked by government statistics.

The conference concluded with the announcement of the Istanbul Declaration, a statement of consensus by the Forum organizers and participants. Action points include statistical research on measuring all dimensions of societal progress; development and use of innovative ICT tools to facilitate the transformation of statistics into knowledge; and development of a global infrastructure to facilitate the assessment of societal progress.

The main purpose of all this is to make the practice of statistics better serve policy-making. Whether these resolutions will make a difference is another matter, but the OECD deserves credit for opening this kind of debate and I suggest we in the third sector see it as a chance to reflect the role of civil society and foundations in measuring and fostering progress.