United Nations World Data Forum 2026

The UN World Data Forum will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between 9 and 12 November 2026. 

The aim of the UN World Data Forum is to spur data innovation, nurture partnerships, mobilize high-level political and financial support for data, and build a pathway to better data for sustainable development. Since the first Forum in January 2017, the audience for the Forum has grown from 2,000 people to active stakeholder group of over 20,000. The UNWDF 2026 will bring together data leaders from a diverse range of stakeholders such as governments, civil society, the private sector, donor and philanthropic bodies, international and regional agencies, the geospatial community, the media, academia (including students), and professional bodies; to exchange ideas, showcase innovations, share solutions, discuss future strategies, and provide mutual learning opportunities on a wide variety of topics organized across four Thematic Areas and evolving list of programme tracks

Call for Programme Proposals

The Programme Committee is preparing for another engaging and interactive programme but to make this possible, we need input and experience from across the data and statistics community. This is why we encourage you to make a submission to the Call for Programme Proposals. We want your ideas and contributions for the programme whether it’s about improving AI with data and statistics, using data and statistics to bring about better pathways to sustainable development, introducing better safeguards against misinformation or responding to our changing data landscape.  To showcase the richness of your work, you can choose to submit in a range of formats from panels, short talks, demos, announcements or learning labs. The Programme Committee will review every completed submission received to put together the eventual programme.

Please submit your proposals by the 26 January deadline.