African Statistical Yearbook 2012

The Yearbook series is a result of collaborative efforts by major African regional organizations to set up a joint data collection mechanism of socioeconomic data on African countries, as well as the development of a harmonized database. The African Statistical Yearbook aims to break with the practices of the past, where each regional/ subregional organization published their own statistical data on African countries. This led to duplication of efforts, inefficient use of scarce resources, an increased burden on member countries, and sometimes conflicting data for users. The joint collection and sharing of data among regional institutions seeks to promote wider use of country data, reduce costs, significantly improve the availability and quality of the data, and lead to better monitoring of development initiatives on the continent.