United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) | Statystyka międzynarodowa | GUS - Portal Informacyjny

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United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

UNESCO is a UN agency established in 1945, with its headquarters in Paris. It coordinates international cooperation in five program areas: education, the natural sciences, the social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information. At the core of UNESCO’s activities are human rights, sustainable development, respect for cultural diversity, and the building of peace.

UNESCO conducts statistical work through the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). The UIS collects, harmonizes, and provides internationally comparable data on education, science, and innovation, including expenditures and personnel in research and development, as well as on culture, heritage, media, and information and communication technologies in education. The data are organized according to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) and are used, among other purposes, to monitor Sustainable Development Goal 4, which concerns the quality of education.

Statistics Poland, in cooperation with relevant ministries and institutions, provides the UIS with harmonized data on Poland in the areas of education, science, and culture (including indicators of participation and completion of education, information on expenditures and personnel in research and development, as well as data on heritage and media). We apply UNESCO methodologies and classifications—including ISCED—and ensure consistency with Eurostat and UN standards. This makes Polish indicators available in the UIS global databases and comparable with those of other countries.

Why is this important?

  • Common standards, such as ISCED, ensure comparability of indicators in education, science, and culture across countries and over time, facilitating the planning and evaluation of public policies.
  • Monitoring the Sustainable Development Goal on quality education relies on UIS data, ensuring consistent, comparable, and reliable reporting of progress.
  • Public UIS databases provide administration, researchers, businesses, and civil society organizations with access to data and metadata, supporting transparency and the reuse of information.
  • Cooperation between the Central Statistical Office and UNESCO enables the harmonization of methods and integration of national and international data sources, resulting in higher quality, greater usefulness, and comparability of statistics.

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