Since the periodic assessment of progress towards the MDGs started, the international statistical community has been concerned about the lack of adequate data to monitor trends in many developing countries and to inform the global monitoring and political debate.

The Inter-agency and Expert Group on MDG Indicators (IAEG) regularly reviews and discusses countries' needs in building capacity for the production and analysis of MDG and development indicators and work with national statistical offices to identify priorities in capacity building and to facilitate the coordination of technical assistance activities.

A number of projects and activities have been launched by the agencies and organizations of IAEG, ranging from advocacy for the strengthening of official statistics with good statistical governance to knowledge transfer and technical training on data collection, analysis and dissemination, including Population and Housing Censuses and Surveys.