Understanding that a population and housing census generates a wealth of often unique information on people living in the country, including population size, structure by age, sex and numerous other parameters, spatial distribution, living conditions and other key socioeconomic characteristics at levels ranging from national to small areas and communities,

Taking into consideration that the use of the detailed, accurate, reliable and up-to-date population data is of critical importance for good governance, policy formulation, development planning, risk reduction, crisis response, social welfare programmes, sociological research and business market analysis,

Realizing the fact that up to 98 out of 230 Sustainable Development Goals indicators require population data for monitoring,

Supporting the Government of Ukraine in modernizing the national statistical system, developing and integrating administrative registers with e-governance solutions, promoting a data use culture and digital transformation of public services in Ukraine,

Striving to improve country’s governance systems, to make all public policies evidence-based, to combat corruption and ensure transparent and effective use of public resources through wide availability and easy accessibility of information from digital administrative registers,

Considering the European aspirations of Ukraine and the fact that more and more countries of Europe use digital registers and other administrative data sources to complement or even replace the traditional census taking methodology,

Making use of the UNECE Recommendations for the 2020 Census of Population and Housing endorsed by the Conference of European Statisticians (2015), as well as the UNECE Guidelines on the Use of Registers and Administrative Data for Population and Housing Censuses (2018),

Signatories to this Joint Statement hereby declare their commitment to take steps aiming at improving population data collection, analysis and dissemination in Ukraine, including:

Enrol to a working group to be responsible for the development of a comprehensive project proposal to support the transition of Ukraine from a traditional to a register-based census for the 2030 round of population and housing censuses;

Develop and endorse the terms of reference for the working group;

Participate in the development of a project concept paper to be presented to the Government of Ukraine for review and approval;

Provide inputs to the working group’s activities and ensure regular and systematic participation in its communication, meetings and related events;

Promote, support and advocate for the improvement of administrative data sources and use of their data by the public and private sectors, fostering a data use culture and digital transformation of the Ukrainian society;