UN database uses technology developed by Statistics Sweden

Statistics Sweden's position as a leading statistical office is now further solidified; UN organisation UNECE in Geneva has chosen the user-friendly system developed by Statistics Sweden. See press release from the UN below.

A unique free database

Press Release ECE/STAT/05/P02
Geneva, 23 February 2005

Macroeconomic data for UNECE countries now available on the Web

The Statistical Division of the Economic Commission for Europe is announcing today the public availability of its free Internet access to macroeconomic statistics on countries in the region. The statistics provided by this service are the empirical basis for the Economic Survey of Europe and other analysis carried out by the secretariat of the Commission.

Emphasis has been placed on making the data ready for immediate analytical use. Methodological breaks have been smoothed backwards to provide long continuous series. Data have been structured in themes to make them easy to find and use. The country theme, for example, presents data in national currencies for within-country analysis of over 50 countries. The international theme presents standardized data in a common currency (US$), along with totals for over 30 sub-regions, for those who wish to make international comparisons. A variety of pre-calculated common transformations, such as growth rates, indices, shares etc., enhance its immediate usability.

Users may be particularly interested in the data on CIS and central and eastern European countries, which are difficult to find elsewhere in a single integrated database.

Data are clearly and succinctly documented and explained, and updated on a daily basis. The PX-WEB user interface provides some data manipulation, data pivoting and simple graphic capabilities, while downloads in a variety of formats are also available.

PX-WEB comes from a long tradition of electronic dissemination in Statistics Sweden and other national statistical offices in the Nordic countries. It is part of the PX-AXIS family of software products whose development is managed by a consortium of National statistical offices and International organisations coordinated by Statistics Sweden.

Some of the most important data used for economic analysis are now available via this database. More will be added in the coming weeks and months…stay tuned.

Those who are interested can find the database on Statistical Division’s website at

http://www.unece.org/stats/stats_h.htm

For more information please contact:

Mr. Darryl Rhoades
Chief, Data Collection, Analysis and Data Base Section
Statistical Division
United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE)
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Phone: +41(0)22 917 4172
Fax: +41(0)22 917 0040
E-mail: darryl.rhoades@unece.org