Pacific Statistics Standing Committee (PSSC)

The Pacific Statistics Standing Committee (PSSC) was originally established by the 3rd Regional Conference of Heads of Planning and Statistics (HOPS) in 2010. Its main purpose is to oversee the implementation of Pacific Statistics Strategies, including the Ten-Year Pacific Statistics Strategy (TYPSS) 2010–2020 and the Strategic Framework for the Pacific Statistics 2022–2030. 

With the increasing importance of statistics to the governments of the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs), it was agreed at the 5th meeting of HOPS in 2017 that as part of new Pacific Statistics Governance Structure, the PSSC should, be renamed the “Pacific Statistics Standing Committee” to reflect its evolving role as an official subsidiary body of HOPS. 

It was agreed that PSSC would meet in years when HOPS did not meet and would be a space for members to share updates on progress in various statistics related activities, monitoring implementation and progress of the TYPSS and the Strategic Framework for the Pacific Statistics and other essential statistics-related processes and identifying priorities for NSOs and development partner attention. 

The PSSC is a decision-making body and is empowered to make recommendations to HOPS on issues that are significant for statistics development in the Pacific region. 

Current PSSC members are Government Statisticians (or a senior representative) of American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Wallis and Futuna. Polynesia sub-region is represented by Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna and Tonga as the Vice-Chair; Melanesia sub-region is represented by Fiji, Solomon Islands and PNG as the Chair; Micronesia sub-region is represented by Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Nauru as the second Vice-Chair. Smaller National Statistics Offices are represented by American Samoa. 

The following partner agencies and donor countries attend the PSSC meetings as observers: DFAT, MFAT, PFTAC, PIFS, UNICEF, UNFPA, USP and World Bank. 

Secretariat services are provided by the Statistics for Development Division (SDD) of SPC.