Proposal Description

Africa’s statistical systems cannot plan effectively for the future without knowing where emerging statistical and data science talent is located, which skills are available, and how those skills are distributed across countries, sectors, and regions. Yet this workforce remains largely invisible to governments, universities, professional associations, and development partners, limiting informed decisions on recruitment, capacity development, coordination, and investment.

This gap is increasingly consequential as countries invest in digital transformation, statistical modernization, and evidence-based policymaking. Without reliable workforce intelligence, national statistical offices cannot identify talent pipelines, universities cannot assess whether graduates are entering priority fields, and development partners cannot target support efficiently. The result is fragmented planning, missed opportunities for collaboration, and weak alignment between available skills and national statistical priorities.

The need is urgent as big data, artificial intelligence, geospatial systems, administrative data, and other analytical tools reshape public decision-making. Statistical systems require professionals who can manage, analyse, interpret, and communicate increasingly complex data, but they need evidence on the existing workforce before they can recruit, deploy, mentor, and develop it strategically. The completed YAS mapping provides that evidence and offers a timely basis for discussion at the World Statistics Congress.

The session will present and discuss findings from the completed mapping of young statisticians and data scientists in Africa, showing what it reveals about skills, locations, sectoral participation, and workforce gaps. It will also consider what existing directories already cover, where critical information gaps remain, and how a registry could complement rather than duplicate current initiatives. Particular attention will be given to governance, inclusion, data protection, sustainability, and the institutional arrangements required for a credible and useful platform.

By translating the mapping findings into policy and institutional action, the session will demonstrate how a registry could align emerging talent with national priorities, strengthen coordination across statistical systems, and create clearer pathways for young professionals to contribute to official statistics and public policy. It therefore addresses a practical requirement for making African statistical systems more future-ready, inclusive, and responsive.

This session is relevant at the World Statistics Congress because debates on statistical capacity development often focus on training and institutional strengthening without first establishing who the emerging workforce is, what capabilities it has, and where support is most needed. Presenting the completed mapping results will bring new empirical evidence to this debate and reframe capacity development as a workforce intelligence challenge: identifying, understanding, and mobilizing the next generation of statisticians and data scientists.

Participants will gain evidence-based insights into Africa’s emerging statistical workforce and a clearer understanding of how a registry could support workforce planning, talent pipelines, collaboration, and the modernization of national statistical systems.

The expected outcome is a shared, evidence-based framework for developing a practical, ethical, and policy-relevant registry that supports the modernization of official statistics. The session will generate recommendations on scope, governance, data protection, institutional ownership, and sustainability, and will outline a potential pilot led by YASA in partnership with national statistical offices to test the registry’s value in practice.