Overview
Population Statistics CODs are the baseline population figures of a country's pre-crisis situation. To effectively allocate resources and efficiently channel assistance to those who need it most, information about the size, location, and demographic profile of the population is fundamental. This requires information about the likely age-/sex-profile of the population in a given geographic area.
Population statistics are required to inform programming in humanitarian response. Specifically, they are used:
to estimate the potential number of affected people both by OCHA but also by all partners (UN and NGOs) who are responding.
to plan emergency assistance to pregnant women in areas affected by a crisis.
as a basis for another of the three core CODs: the Humanitarian Profile COD.
as a reference/resource in the development of needs assessments and in the analysis.
as a framework for data collection.
use to gain an understanding of population breakdown (sex and age) to prepare and respond appropriately.
The COD-PS is constructed based on the best available data principle – i.e. in a pragmatic way that takes the best available data and constructs an updated set of age- and sex-disaggregated population estimates for the current time period at the lowest level of geographic disaggregation possible. As it is a humanitarian tool, the COD-PS is not required to be an official statistical output constructed according to the international standards of official statistics. Rather it is intended to be updated annually, or as humanitarian needs and priorities change, and allows for the input data and estimation/projection methods to be of a lower standard than official statistical standards.
Process
Identification of COD-PSs
In 2018, UNFPA and OCHA formally agreed on leveraging UNFPA's population expertise and strong partnerships in regards to population data in many countries to be responsible for increasing the availability and quality of COD-PS datasets around the world. As per the agreement, UNFPA Regional Offices together with HQ and CO colleagues will identify the best-available sex-and-age disaggregated dataset for each country and discuss their findings with OCHA's IM at the Regional (and country) level. The agreed dataset is then presented to the IMWG/IM network for further validation and adoption. If adopted, the dataset becomes the official COD-PS for a particular country. In most cases, the COD-PS will be publicly available at HDX. However, sensitive COD-PS will have customized access levels. The IM network should include representative(s) from UNFPA, if this is not possible, UNFPA should always be consulted in regards to the population statistics COD.
For countries with unavailable (or outdated) population projections, UNFPA will develop a model to estimate population projections. The model's methodology will be thoroughly documented and presented to the IMWG/ IM network.
For more information see: COD-PS Standards and Process
Case-study
[Add link to brief Honduras Case-study]