20 October 2010
Boys run to primary school in Uganda. Picture: Oryema Kennedy/ActionAid
Today, 20 October 2010, marks the first ever World Statistics Day. Statistics are vital to our work in developing countries. They help us to understand the scale of development challenges, so we can direct our aid to where it is most needed and ensure our interventions are achieving the results we expect them to.
Good data supports good governance and helps partner governments to develop policies which meet the needs of their populations.
Read on to find out more about the work DFID is doing to improve statistics in developing countries:
Do you know the facts about Africa?
- Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of people living in poverty in the world. 388 million people (51%) live below the international poverty line 1.
UKaid support has contributed to preventing 20 million people from living in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa between 1990 and 2005.
- 32 million children of primary school age in sub-Saharan Africa are not in school - 45% of the global out of school total 2.
Between 1999 and 2007, the support of UKaid and other organisations helped a further 42 million primary aged children enrol in school in Sub-Saharan Africa 3. This is over seven times the number of children of primary age in the UK 4.
- Two thirds of all HIV positive adults and 9 in every 10 HIV positive children live in sub-Saharan Africa 5 .
By mid-2010, the UK and other partners contributing to the Global Fund had helped more than 2.1 million people receive anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa 6. This is greater than the population of Northern Ireland 7.
- Over 300 million people – 40% of the total population – lack access to safe drinking water 8 .
Between March 2008 and September 2009, UKaid delivered safe water to 2.7 million people in Africa and helped 1.8 million people gain access to basic sanitation through our bilateral aid programme 9 .
- Nearly three fifths of all maternal deaths in 2008 occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) alone. A 15-year-old female in SSA has a 1 in 31 lifetime risk of dying from a maternal cause, compared to a 1 in 4,300 risk in the developed regions 10 .
In Nigeria, where maternal mortality rates are among the worst in the world, UKaid will help to provide emergency obstetric care to 75,000 women by the end of 2010 11.
Footnotes:
(1) World Bank World Development Indicators. Data relates to 2005.
(2) Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2010. Data relates to 2007.
(3) As above. 124m primary school aged children were enrolled in 2007 compared to 82m in 1999.
(4)UK Office for National Statistics, mid-2009 population estimates. 5.5m children aged 4-11.
(5) UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 2008. Data relates to 2007.
(6) This is the total figure of people reported to be receiving ARVs in SSA from programmes supported by Global Fund grants. It is not possible to say what percentage of DFID's contribution to the fund can be attributed to this outcome as donor funding is not tracked in that way. Source: Global Fund ARV Factsheet Mid-2010 (www.theglobalfund.org/en/hivaids/).
(7) UK Office for National Statistics, mid-2009 population estimates. Population of Northern Ireland estimated to be 1.8m.
(8) WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme on Water and Sanitation.
(9) The most recent data (April to September 2009) are estimates; the data relates to bilateral programmes only; and it does not include humanitarian spend as this is unlikey to provide long term sustainable services.
(10)Trends in Maternal Mortality 1990 to 2008. Estimates developed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank. WHO Geneva, 2010 DFID Annual Report 2009-2010.
(11) DFID Annual Report 2009-2010.