'As the world faces increases in poverty, data that measures accurately the level of poverty, especially for those falling behind and the most vulnerable population groups, is now more important than ever. With COVID impacting on most economies in terms of living standards and poverty, effective policy to help reduce the COVID impact and support fast recovering also raised stronger demands for more timely and inclusive data. Coincides with the ever-increasing data demand on poverty, household surveys, the primary source for such data also face many serious challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has further challenged the traditional household survey systems that rely heavily on face-to-face data collection. At the same time, the data landscape has transformed in recent years, with an emergence of new data sources providing more granular and timely data (including geospatial data, mobile phone data, sensor data, among others), new technologies for data collection, new approaches for engaging with respondents and data users, and new business architecture models for running national statistical systems.
Within this context, the United Nations Statistics Division and the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) are jointly organizing an international seminar on Measuring Shared Prosperity and Inclusion: Challenges and Innovative Approaches. The meeting aims to provide a platform for exchange of experiences in bringing innovations into the measurement of poverty and prosperity.'