Administrative Data Sources for Compiling Millennium Development Goals and Related Indicators

A Reference Handbook on Using Data from Education, Health, and Vital Registration Systems Featuring Practices and Experiences from Selected Countries

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• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9789290921646
• eBook ISBN: 9789290922599
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Poverty in Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

The handbook is one of the outputs of the Asian Development Bank regional technical assistance (TA) on Improving Administrative Data Sources for the Monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals Indicators. It serves as a reference tool for data producers on improving administrative data sources for compiling the Millennium Development Goals and other indicators. Drawing from the experiences of the five case study countries included in the TA, namely, Mongolia, Nepal, Palau, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam, the handbook combines theoretical issues in using administrative data with the practical problems faced in their use and provides recommendations to help improve administrative data systems. It also provides information on alternative data sources for compiling the Millennium Development Goals and other indicators.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

1.2 STATISTICAL NEEDS FOR MEASURING DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND TARGETS

1.3 OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE

1.4 SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS

1.1 BACKGROUND

The demand for socioeconomic data, especially in developing countries, for evidence-based planning and policy making, monitoring, and evaluation of policies, plans, and programs has grown considerably. The last two decades have witnessed the acceptance of a holistic notion of development, which goes beyond the narrow perspective of economic growth and brings human welfare at the center of all development activities. Social and environmental goals are therefore being prioritized alongside economic goals. This was evident in a number of United Nations (UN) development conferences during the last decade, such as the

(i)	World Conference on Education for All - Jomtien, Thailand, 1990 (Education);
(ii)	World Summit for Children - New York, United States, 1990 (Children);
(iii)	United Nations Conference on Environment and Development - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992 (Environment);
(iv)	United Nations International Conference on Population and Development - Cairo, Egypt, 1994 (Population);
(v)	World Summit for Social Development - Copenhagen, Denmark, 1995 (Social Development); and
(vi)	Fourth World Conference on Women - Beijing, People’s Republic of China, 1995 (Women).

A significant result of these international summits was the setting up of goals and targets to be achieved and to be monitored by a set of identified indicators. In 1996, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development pioneered the International Development Goals, which included the three dimensions of development, namely, economic well-being, social development, and environmental sustainability and regeneration, with a set of quantifiable indicators identified under each goal.

The Millennium Declaration. In September 2000, the UN Millennium Declaration¹ was adopted at the largest-ever gathering of 189 heads of state. The declaration committed all countries—rich and poor—to doing all they can to eradicate poverty; promote human dignity and equality; and achieve peace, democracy, and environmental sustainability. To face the multidimensional challenges that have an adverse impact on the well-being of the majority of the population, certain time-bound goals were set, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (Box 1.1). The MDGs cover various socioeconomic dimensions, such as poverty and hunger, education, health, gender equality, environmental sustainability, and global partnership in achieving the MDGs, and represent mutually reinforcing goals.

Box 1.1: The Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1:	Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2:	Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3:	Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4:	Reduce child mortality
Goal 5:	Improve maternal health
Goal 6:	Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7:	Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8:	Develop a global partnership for development

Source: United Nations. The official United Nations site for the MDG Indicators. http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/default.aspx

The MDGs refer to the 8 goals and corresponding 18 targets and 48 indicators, which became effective from 8 September 2003, and were revised effective 15 January 2008. The revised framework consists of the same 8 goals, but the number of targets was increased to 21 and the number of indicators increased to 60. The three additional targets emphasize universal access to reproductive health, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for the needy, and reducing biodiversity loss. The official list of MDG indicators is in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Official List of the Millennium Development Goals Indicators ^a(Effective 15 January 2008)

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Goals and Targets (from the Millennium Declaration)	Indicators for Monitoring Progress
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target 1.A: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day	1.1 Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day^b 1.2 Poverty gap ratio 1.3 Share of poorest quintile in national consumption
Target 1.B: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people	1.4 Growth rate of GDP per person employed 1.5 Employment-to-population ratio 1.6 Proportion of employed people living below $1 (PPP) per day 1.7 Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment
Target 1.C: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger	1.8 Prevalence of underweight children under-five years of age 1.9 Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Target 2.A: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling	2.1 Net enrolment ratio in primary education 2.2 Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach last grade of primary 2.3 Literacy rate of 15–24 year-olds, women and men
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Target 3.A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015	3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education 3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector 3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Target 4.A: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate	4.1 Under-five mortality rate 4.2 Infant mortality rate 4.3 Proportion of 1 year-old children immunised against measles
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Target 5.A: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio	5.1 Maternal mortality ratio 5.2 Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel
Target 5.B: Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health	5.3 Contraceptive prevalence rate 5.4 Adolescent birth rate 5.5 Antenatal care coverage (at least one visit and at least four visits) 5.6 Unmet need for family planning
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target 6.A: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/ AIDS	6.1 HIV prevalence among population aged 15–24 years 6.2 Condom use at last high-risk sex 6.3 Proportion of population aged 15-24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS 6.4 Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of non-orphans aged 10-14 years
Target 6.B: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it	6.5 Proportion of population with advanced HIV infection with access to antiretroviral drugs
Target 6.C: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases	6.6 Incidence and death rates associated with malaria 6.7 Proportion of children under 5 sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets 6.8 Proportion of children under 5 with fever who are treated with appropriate anti-malarial drugs 6.9 Incidence, prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis 6.10 Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under directly observed treatment short course
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Target 7.A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources Target 7.B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss	7.1 Proportion of land area covered by forest 7.2 CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP) 7.3 Consumption of ozone-depleting substances 7.4 Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits 7.5 Proportion of total water resources used 7.6 Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected 7.7 Proportion of species threatened with extinction
Target 7.C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation	7.8 Proportion of population using an improved drinking water source 7.9 Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility
Target 7.D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers	7.10 Proportion of urban population living in slums^c
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Target 8.A: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system Includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction - both nationally and internationally Target 8.B: Address the special needs of the least developed countries Includes: tariff and quota free access for the least developed countries’ exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction Target 8.C: Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing States (through the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly) Target 8.D: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term	Some of the indicators listed below are monitored separately for the least developed countries (LDCs), Africa, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States. Official development assistance (ODA) 8.1 Net ODA, total and to the least developed countries, as percentage of OECD/DAC donors’ gross national income 8.2 Proportion of total bilateral, sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors to basic social se...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Boxes, Figures, and Tables
• Endorsements
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations and Acronyms
• 1 INTRODUCTION
• 2 SOURCES OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATISTICS: CENSUSES AND HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS
• 3 SOURCES OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATISTICS: ADMINISTRATIVE DATA
• 4 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS
• 5 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA FOR HEALTH STATISTICS
• 6 CIVIL REGISTRATION SYSTEMS AND VITAL STATISTICS
• 7 PRACTICES IN COMPILING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS INDICATORS IN THE CASE STUDY COUNTRIES
• Back Cover