In response to a growing demand for high-quality and internationally-comparable statistics, FAO develops, implements and promotes methods and standards to guide national data producers in generating and using sound statistics. In particular, the Organization is committed to provide national statistical systems with internationally recognized definitions, concepts and classifications as well as methodological guidance for the production of high quality statistics related to food and agriculture.
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You can access here all the statistical guidelines and handbooks, technical reports, working papers and methodological documents, and capacity development resources.
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Abstract: Forests and the forest sector are important sources of employment, livelihoods and incomes for millions across the globe, particularly in rural areas. They provide jobs in a wide range of activities related to sustainable forest management, the provision and production of timber and other wood and non-wood forest products, the protection of forest ecosystems and biodiversity, and safeguarding the benefits of forests. Despite the relevance of forests for employment and income generation, limited quantitative information is currently available on the subject. This lack of data makes it challenging to quantify the number of people employed in the forest sector, and their contribution to global employment. Notwithstanding, estimating forest-related employment involves methodological challenges such as the standardization and comparability of data collected, as well as the availability of reliable and detailed employment statistics. This study employs a new method to fill the gaps of missing data points in order to provide sound total employment estimates in the forest sector on a global scale.
Lead authoring unit/office: Forestry Division (NFO)
Abstract: RuLIS is a tool to support policies for reducing rural poverty, jointly developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Statistics Division, the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). RuLIS brings together harmonized indicators and comparable data across countries and over time on rural incomes, livelihoods and rural development. Using the surveys that are processed as part of the RuLIS database project, this brief explores patterns and trends in rural employment for women and youth with a focus on agriculture in 16 low-income and lower-middle-income countries around the world: 11 from sub-Saharan Africa, two from East Asia and the Pacific, two from Latin America and the Caribbean, and one from Central Asia.
Lead authoring unit/office: Statistics Division (ESS)
Abstract: RuLIS is a tool to support policies for reducing rural poverty, jointly developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Statistics Division, the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). RuLIS brings together harmonized indicators and comparable data across countries and over time on rural incomes, livelihoods and rural development. This brief uses data from RuLIS to estimate the contribution of income from crop and livestock production to households’ total annual income. The shares in total income are also analysed across expenditure quintiles. The brief aims at exploring the importance of income from on-farm agricultural sources in rural livelihoods.
Lead authoring unit/office: Statistics Division (ESS)
Abstract: RuLIS is a tool to support policies for reducing rural poverty, jointly developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Statistics Division, the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). RuLIS brings together harmonized indicators and comparable data across countries and over time on rural incomes, livelihoods and rural development. Using the RuLIS data, this brief focuses on the observations made in the adoption of agricultural inputs, along with improved technology such as irrigation, and mechanised tools among crop farm households in sub-Saharan Africa.
Lead authoring unit/office: Statistics Division (ESS)
Abstract: RuLIS is a tool to support policies for reducing rural poverty, jointly developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Statistics Division, the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). RuLIS brings together harmonized indicators and comparable data across countries and over time on rural incomes, livelihoods and rural development and allows monitoring the status and progressr of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicators. SDG 5.a1 measures women’s ownership rights and control over agricultural land. Through this indicator it is possible to assess the extent of women’s disadvantages in ownership and tenure rights over agricultural land, providing a basis for policy measures aimed at securing women equal opportunities and access to economic resources. This brief is the first analysis that employs a harmonized methodology for measuring tenure rights over agricultural land based on RuLIS data.
Abstract: This paper provides an overview of the endorsed methodology of the indicator by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG indicators (IAEG-SDG). Importantly, it provides a protocol for the collection of the required data via a dedicated survey questionnaire.
Lead authoring unit/office: Statistics Division (ESS)
Abstract: This document reflects the latest reference metadata information available on SDG-indicator 5.a.1. "(a) Percentage of people with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land (out of total agricultural population), by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure". Last updated: February 2021.
Lead authoring unit/office: FAO
Abstract: This document reflects the latest reference metadata information available on SDG-indicator 5.a.2 "Proportion of countries where the legal framework (including customary law) guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control". Last updated: February 2021.
Lead authoring unit/office: FAO
Abstract: Since the launch of the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) indicator in 2015, new global developments and research conducted in three countries to further determine best practices in the data collection resulted in new information and guidelines. This research was supported by capacity-development activities on the assessment of individual food consumption. This publication is an update to the 2016 FAO/FHI 360 joint publication MDD-W: A Guide to Measurement. It includes guidance on the most accurate and valid methodologies on collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting data on women’s dietary diversity, for use in research, impact assessment and large-scale, health and nutrition surveys such as the Demographic Health Survey (DHS), to generate nationally representative data, that are comparable over time and across countries. In addition to supporting the regular collection of high-quality dietary data following standardized methodologies, the publication also aims to promote dialogues on and appropriate application of the data towards informing policy and programming decisions and monitoring and evaluation of nutrition outcomes and progress at global, regional, and country levels.
Lead authoring unit/office: FAO
Abstract: The methodological work required to develop the 5.a.1 protocol was carried out by the Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE) project, an initiative jointly executed by the United Nations Statistics Division and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in collaboration with National Statistical Offices, the Asian Development Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank.
Lead authoring unit/office: FAO
