Flagship economic and statistical publications on Africa now available in e-reader format

The African Development Bank Group, the ‘Premier Knowledge Bank for Africa’, has made available in e-reader formart a series of economic and statistical publications, cementing its role as a leading change agent for sustainable socio-economic development on the continent.

The publications available in e-reader format are the following:

• African Statistical Yearbook 2011
• Compendium of Statistics on AfDB Group Operations 2011
• Gender, Poverty and Environmental Indicators on African Countries 2011
• AfDB Statistics Pocketbook 2011
• African Statistical Journal, Volume 12, May 2011

The African Statistical Yearbook 2011

The African Statistical Yearbook 2011 presents in its third edition time series showing how African Countries performed on several economic and social thematic areas over the 2002 to 2010 period. Efforts have been made to privilege the use of data sourced from countries national sources, validated through a rigorous process.

The 2011 African Statistical Yearbook was prepared under the overall umbrella of the African Statistical Coordination Committee set up by major continental organizations dealing with statistical development namely the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the African Union Commission (AUC), and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in the framework of the implementation of the Reference regional Strategic Framework for Statistical Capacity Building in Africa (RRSF).

Compendium of Statistics

The Compendium of Statistics on AfDB Group Operations 2011 is an annual publication of the African Development Bank Group, presenting data on operational activities of the Bank Group. Part One gives cross-country statistics on Bank operations and Part Two provides country-specific information on each regional member country of the Bank.

Gender, Poverty and Environmental Indicators

The ninth volume of Gender, Poverty and Environmental Indicators on African Countries 2011, published by the Statistics Department of the African Development Bank Group, provides useful information on the broad development trends relating to gender, poverty and environmental issues in the 53 African countries.

AfDB Statistics Pocketbook 2011

The AfDB Statistics Pocketbook 2011 presents summary economic and social data on regional member countries and on the operational activities of the African Development Bank Group. Most of the indicators shown are selected from the other AfDB publications: Compendium of Statistics on Bank Group Operations; Gender, Poverty and Environmental Indicators on African Countries and Selected Statistics on African Countries which contain more detailed information.

African Statistical Journal, Volume 12, May 2011

The volume 12 of the African Statistical Journal contains four highly topical articles. The first presents results from the 'Mali Enquête permanente emploi auprès des ménages', conducted in 2007. The article examines relationships between gender, and employment and income in Mali. By comparing the employment and income of men and women, the study reveals gender inequality in the Malian labor force and employment earnings. It also explains how this affects Mali’s progress toward achieving the MDGs, specifically, MDG 3 on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The article demonstrates the importance of considering any correlates in the analysis in order to fully understand gender inequality in employment.

The second article focuses on the challenges African countries have faced in monitoring and reporting on progress toward the MDGs. It examines the need for statistical information to support the process and suggests potential measures to improve the situation. It also discusses opportunities offered by the current set of MDG indicators in monitoring development in African countries beyond the 2015 deadline.

The third article underscores the threat of climate change to sustainable development in Africa. It examines how vulnerabilities are understood by climate change researchers, and how, based on these perspectives, African governments and development partners can support communities most at risk. The study notes the increased need for data that policy-makers, advocates and other stakeholders can use to mitigate the impact of climate change. It emphasizes the need to use of data already available to National Statistical Systems, rather than collect new data.

The fourth article focuses on the problems that arise when using survival analysis methods to calculate the “age at first sex” based only on recalled information from a household survey. With data from the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey, the study demonstrates that this method would yield misleading results, particularly when age at the time of the survey is used as the censoring time, misreporting of age at first sex is substantial, and a considerable number of respondents had not had sexual relations at the time of data collection. The study proposes an alternative method based only on age and virginity status at the time of the survey.

Since November 2005, the African Development Bank publishes bi-annually The African Statistical Journal which is intended to foster improved communication and contact among analysts, policy makers and data producers in Africa. It is established also to serve as a research outlet and information sharing publication among academic and practicing statisticians mainly in Africa. The Journal aims to promote the understanding of statistical development in the African region.