UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Published purpose

This grant represents Canada's institutional support to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS), one of nine specialized institutes of UNESCO, created in 1999 and based in Montréal, Québec. The Institute’s goal is to foster evidence-based policy through the collection and use of high-quality and timely data in education, science and technology, as well as culture and communication. The UIS has developed the world's most comprehensive education database, and is the official source of education-related targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and Education for All Monitoring Reports. The UIS is the source of education statistics for the World Development Report (World Bank); the Human Development Report (UNDP); and the State of the World's Children (UNICEF). The UIS has working relationships with over 70 countries and serves as the custodian and monitor of internationally comparable data in 200 countries that are surveyed annually for literacy statistics.