MDG Report 2010

The 2010 Assessing Progress toward the MDGs in Africa report is based on the latest updated and harmonized data from United Nations agencies and OECD statistics databases. UNSD is the official repository of data for assessing progress toward the MDGs. The main reason for using these international sources is that they collect and provide accurate and comparable data on MDG indicators across African countries. The irregularity of surveys/censuses, ages, definitions and methods of production of the indicators may explain the lag between the reporting year and the years of data, which vary from 2006 to 2008. Some of the indicators are new or have been modified since 2007. Some indicators, like CO2 emissions and ozone depletion in Goal 7, are not relevant or are not quite in line with national priorities. Therefore, some countries use proxies for such indicators which reflect the specificities of their own circumstances and which align more fully with their priorities. Several indicators are dependent on censuses/surveys carried out every 2 or 10 years, so that inter-survey and inter-census periods tend to lead to data gaps. The MDG data are compiled by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group (IAEG) on MDG indicators, with one or more UN agencies being responsible for indicators falling under their area of competency.