The Future of Population Data amidst Demographic Megatrends

Alessio Cangiano, Fonds des Nations Unies pour la Population (UNFPA)

Data solutions powered by digital technologies have contributed to the modernization of population data systems, automating data collection, accelerating the speed of data processing, and broadening data types (e.g., geospatial, biometric and digital trace data). Despite significant progress in data availability and quality, a North-South divide persists in both the infrastructure and human capacity to collect, analyse, disseminate and transform population data into public knowledge for development. New technologies have also enabled new types of bias, risks of data misuse and forms of harm in the digital space, reshaping data problems rather than providing one-fits-all solutions. This paper takes stock of the progress and extant gaps in population and development data and offers a critical outlook on the future of population data ecosystems in low and middle income countries. It does so against the backdrop of demographic changes, other global megatrends and key political-economic shifts that will continue to transform the data value chain. We propose pathways towards better integrated population data systems, and call for urgent attention to data governance frameworks and expanded investments to meet the information and data protection needs for the post-2030 development agenda.

Keywords: Data and Methods, Census data, Geo-referenced/geo-coded data, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination

See extended abstract.