Joint Data Center

Integrated Refugee Data Finder

Context

UNHCR collects a wide range of data from the 137 countries that the organization works in. Efforts to make this data safely available beyond UNHCR are underway with the Microdata Library initiative.

As of November 2022, the Microdata Library included more than 540 surveys and close to 195,000 variables. However, to date, no statistics have been consistently derived from this data, such that UNHCR does not currently disseminate aggregate socioeconomic, wellbeing and living standards statistics on forcibly displaced people for external audiences.

Users of refugee data have expressed interest in a broad set of statistical indicators that they can find in a public online platform. Such a platform would provide UNHCR with the opportunity to consolidate existing platforms, and to ensure that data that is publicly disseminated is robust, consistent, and useful to those developing policy and programs for refugees and to progress UNHCR’s data transformation.

Activity

UNHCR’s Global Data Service (GDS) will build an integrative platform containing socioeconomic, wellbeing and living standards statistics on the forcibly displaced. This work will comprise of the development and incorporation of survey-based indicators into the current Refugee Data Finder, the development of standards for inclusion and aggregation of indicators and the curation and inclusion of indicators.

When combined with population and resettlement data, and aligned with international statistical standards, data will be comparable over time and across countries. This consolidated data can inform programming, policy, and advocacy efforts so that a population’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals can be tracked.

Partnerships

The activity will be implemented by GDS, which already oversees the Refugee Data Finder and the Microdata Library. The GDS is engaged with the World Bank on UNHCR’s Microdata Library and the Forced Displacement Survey and is engaging with other development partners and exchanging information on similar undertakings.

Contact

For further details on this activity, please contact: