THE SECRETARY-GENERAL REMARKS TO MEMBER STATES ON THE LAUNCH OF THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM DATA COMMONS

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL REMARKS TO MEMBER STATES ON THE LAUNCH OF THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM DATA COMMONS

New York, 17 September 2026

[as delivered]

Excellencies, Distinguished delegates,

I want to begin by thanking Under-Secretary-General Li, Executive Director Russell and the UN80 team for making this launch possible;

And the Member States whose sustained support underpins the statistical work of the entire United Nations system.

Excellencies,

Behind every statistic is a human story.

A child whose future depends on access to education.

A family facing rising food prices.

A community confronting growing climate risks.

To serve them, we must understand their challenges – and know whether we are making a difference.

For decades, the United Nations system has helped the world to precisely do that.

Working with Member States, our organizations have built an extraordinary wealth of public data and statistics.

This knowledge is a global public asset – held in trust for humanity.

We have a responsibility to make it work better together – for everyone.

Today, we take an important step in fulfilling that responsibility with the launch of the UN System Data Commons:

A one-stop shop enabling easier public access to data and statistics of the United Nations system.

Excellencies,

The challenges before us are deeply interconnected.

Drought undermines food security.

Rising food prices deepen poverty.

Poverty pushes children out of school.

We cannot solve these challenges in silos.

Yet too often, the information we need remains scattered across different organizations and formats.

A policymaker must navigate multiple platforms to see the full picture.

A researcher can spend more time reconciling data than analysing it.

And people unfamiliar with our institutions can struggle to know where to start.

Access to the knowledge of the United Nations system should never depend on knowing how to navigate its organigramme.

The UN System Data Commons helps remove these barriers.

Twenty-six participating UN System entities have joined forces to create a single gateway and make their publicly available data and statistics accessible – in accordance with their respective terms of use.

And almost 44 million data points are already available on the new platform – today. 

Anyone can search in everyday language;

Explore information across institutions – and trace it back to its source.

And developers can plug this data directly into their own tools.

In short: trusted, verified UN data – easier to find, easier to connect, easier to turn into action.

Excellencies,

This launch comes at a moment of profound change in how information is created, shared and used.

We have more information at our fingertips than ever before – and less certainty about what to trust.

If trusted facts are hard to find, unreliable data and misinformation will fill the void.

Authoritative public data is the foundation of informed debate and accountable decision-making.

This is a matter of public trust.

Increasingly, people ask AI a question – and receive an immediate answer.

Those answers will only be as good as the data behind them.

We must help ensure that trusted data is part of the answer – and that answers can be traced back to the evidence.

The Data Commons is built for this new age.

Throughout, we will hold to accuracy, transparency, privacy, and human rights.

We will work in accordance with applicable rules, policies and procedures.

And we must ensure that countries and communities with fewer resources can benefit.

Open data must go hand in hand with the capacity to use it.

The Data Commons also shows what we can achieve through UN80:

Shared infrastructure – built faster and cheaper than if each entity acts alone.

Work across institutional boundaries.

A whole greater than the sum of its parts.

An idea discussed for years – delivered in under nine months.

Which demonstrates that change is possible.

And this is reform people can use.

Its value will be measured in better support to countries;

Better informed decisions;

And stronger results for the people we serve.

Today’s launch is a beginning.

I urge all remaining UN entities to join. 

I invite all Member States to use the Data Commons to inform national priorities and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

And I call on researchers, journalists, developers, civil society and the public to use it, test it, and help us make it ever better.

Trusted evidence should not sit behind institutional walls. Let us bring it within reach of everyone working for a more peaceful, sustainable and just world.

And let us turn better evidence into better decisions – and better lives.

Thank you.

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