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23/05/2006 - How can society better measure its progress or its failings? The question lies at the heart of a long-term OECD project to give governments and citizens the tools to transform statistics into a reliable and coherent body of knowledge about the way our societies are developing.

The OECD’s second World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy to be held in Istanbul, Turkey on 27-30 June 2007, will bring together experts from governments, academia, business, civil society, the arts and the media. It will explore how to improve the development and dissemination of social, economic and environmental indicators. Under the spotlight too will be how statistics are used and abused.

The overall project, Measuring the Progress of Societies, emerged from the first World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy held in Palermo, Italy in November 2004. This ground-breaking conference signalled the central role that key indicators should play in underpinning democracy and effective government policy-making. 

A series of international workshops leading up to Istanbul World Forum next year will focus on specific issues such as measuring well-being and designing economic, social and environmental indicators.

Further information about the Istanbul World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy and the Measuring the Progress of Societies project, is available on the OECD website at http://www.oecd.org/oecdworldforum or from the OECD Media Division (tel: + 33 1 4524 9700).