Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
The FAO is a specialized UN agency, established in 1945, with the goal of combating hunger and malnutrition and supporting the development of agriculture and rural areas. The organization assists developing countries and countries in transition in modernizing and improving agriculture, forestry, and fisheries to ensure food security. The FAO is headquartered in Rome.
The FAO also conducts statistical work: it collects, verifies, and harmonizes global data on food production, trade, and consumption, as well as on the state of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and livestock. A publicly available source of this information is FAOSTAT – a free database covering time series from 1961 for over 245 countries and territories. The data are provided in open formats (e.g., CSV, API) and offer a multilingual interface.
Poland’s public statistics system, with Statistics Poland as the national coordinator, regularly provides statistical data to the FAO in accordance with the organization’s mandate and established standards. As a result, Polish data contribute to the global FAOSTAT database, are internationally comparable, and are used in analyses, reports, and public policy design.
Why is this important?
- The FAO provides recognized methodologies (including those for agricultural censuses and food balance sheets), which facilitate survey design, harmonize definitions, and improve the quality and comparability of results.
- Including Polish data in FAOSTAT increases their availability outside the EU and enables reliable international comparisons for administrations, research, and business.
- Within the framework of the 2030 Agenda, standardized definitions and reporting pathways help GUS reduce reporting costs and minimize the risk of indicator inconsistencies.
- FAO early warning tools and market reviews help respond quickly to supply disruptions, price fluctuations, and the impacts of natural disasters, supporting better public decision-making.
- Applying FAO quality frameworks facilitates process documentation and enhances transparency, strengthening users’ trust in official statistics.
Learn more:
- New roles of national statistical offices
- Globalization and modernization
- Data integration
- The 2030 Agenda
- Home | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- FAOSTAT
- GIEWS – Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- Data | SDG Indicators Data Portal | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations