Kabul 26-27 July 2016 - The Central Statistics Organization (CSO) of Afghanistan with the technical support of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) organized a seminar in   Kabul to share findings of different surveys including Socio-demographic and Economic Survey (SDES) with the Ministry of Economy (MoEc), its provincial directorates and Ministry of Agriculture and its provincial directorates.

The seminar hosted around 80 officials from the aforementioned ministries who are involved in development planning and policy formulation. The aim of the seminar was to disseminate SDES findings to these officials, raise awareness on the importance of data for their planning and concrete examples of data analysis and interpretation.

Access to accurate information on population trends is essential for developing sound policies that improves the lives and well-being of millions of people in Afghanistan. Policies can only reflect the needs of people on the ground if they are supported by solid population data, such as the numbers and distribution of populations, their gender profile, age structure, socioeconomic status, and access to services, among other indicators.

For Afghanistan to develop and prosper, if not the only, one of the most critical requirement is the availability of accurate and up-to-date data at the national and sub-national levels to the public policy makers and planners. Globally the preparation for the 2020 World Population and Housing Census Program is in progress and Afghanistan is taking steps to be part of the global efforts and bring population data to the forefront of the political agenda in order to plan the future development of the country in a more effective and sustainable manner.

About SDES - The SDES is designed to gradually gather information on socio-economic and demographic status of population from all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. SDES provides key population and demographic data disaggregated by sex and age at the provincial, district and village level for local development policy making and planning. Bamiyan, Ghor, Daikundi, Parwan, Kapisa, Kabul, Samangan are covered by SDES and the data are available to the users,. Currently SDES operations are going on in Balkh, Takhar, Herat and Nimrooz provinces. Preparations for next provinces are underway.