Recent News

Health, disability, gender, employment indicators and data are key for effective policy development in Pacific Islands Countries and Territories (PICTs).

The outbreak of COVID-19 in the PICTs in 2020 led to many job losses, especially in the tourism and related industries, and a significant slowing-down in overall economic activity.

The Curriculum on medical certification of cause of death for Pacific Island countries and territories report is now available.
A death certificate is a permanent record of the fact of and characteristics of death. It provides important personal information about the decedent, the circumstances and cause of death and serves as the main source of mortality statistics for a country.

A well-functioning civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system is the cornerstone of good, sustainable governance and is key to social and economic development; The CRVS Systems Improvement Framework report is now available.

Population registers are recognised for their dual role of providing critical information about the civil status of individuals within a population. In the Pacific, to the extent known bySPC, there is no evidence of a country that implements a functional population register.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on the ability of governments to maintain services and routine functions, including the operation of national civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems.

Though less affected than some regions of the world, the Pacific has not been spared from COVID-19.

Measurement of progress against development indicators, and evaluation of policy, requires the production of data that allow the computation of comparable statistics and indicators over time.