SDMX Metadata Concepts

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Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

Target 16.8: Broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in the institutions of global governance

Indicator 16.8.1: Proportion of members and voting rights of developing countries in international organizations

Institutional information

Organization(s):

Financing for Development Office, DESA (FFDO)

Concepts and definitions

Definition:

The proportion of members and voting rights of developing countries in international organizations has two components, the developing country proportion of voting rights and the developing country proportion of membership in international organisations. In some institutions these two components are identical.

Concepts:

The indicator is calculated independently for eleven different international institutions: The United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Trade Organisation, and the Financial Stability Board.

There is no established convention for the designation of "developed" and "developing" countries or areas in the United Nations system. In common practice, Japan in Asia, Canada and the United States in northern America, Australia and New Zealand in Oceania, and Europe are considered "developed" regions or areas. The aggregation across all institutions is currently done according to the United Nations M.49 statistical standard which includes designation of “developed regions” and “developing regions”, while an ongoing review seeks to reach agreement on how to define these terms for the purposes of SDG monitoring. The designations "developed" and developing" are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process.

Rationale:

The United Nations is based on a principle of sovereign equality of all its Member States (Article 2, UN Charter). This indicator aims to measure the degree to which States enjoy equal representation in different international organizations.

Comments and limitations:

Cross institutional comparisons needs to pay attention to the different membership of the institutions. Voting rights and membership in their institutions are agreed by the Member States themselves. As a structural indicator, there will be only small changes over time to reflect agreement on new States joining as Members, suspension of voting rights, membership withdrawal and negotiated voting rights changes.

Methodology

Computation method:

The computation uses each institutions’ own published membership and voting rights data from their respective annual reports. The proportion of voting rights is computed as the number of voting rights allocated to developing countries, divided by the total number of voting rights. The proportion of membership is calculated by taking the number of developing country members, divided by the total number of members.

Data sources

Description:

Annual reports, as presented on the website of the institution in question, are used as sources of data. Sources of information by institution:

  • United Nations General Assembly: Website of the General Assembly
  • United Nations Security Council: Report of the Security Council for the respective year
  • United Nations Economic and Social Council: Report of the Economic and Social Council for the respective year
  • International Monetary Fund: Annual Report for the respective year
  • International Bank for Reconstruction and Development: Management’s Discussion & Analysis and Financial Statements for the respective year
  • International Finance Corporation: Annual Report (volume 2) for the respective year
  • African Development Bank: Annual Report for the respective year
  • Asian Development Bank: Annual Report for the respective year
  • Inter-American Development Bank: Annual Report for the respective year
  • World Trade Organisation: WTO Annual Report 2015
  • Financial Stability Board: Charters of the Financial Stability Board

Data availability

Available for all countries.

Disaggregation:

Data is calculated and presented separately for each international organization.

Calendar

Data release:

  • United Nations General Assembly: continuous
  • United Nations Security Council: annually in September
  • United Nations Economic and Social Council: annually in October
  • International Monetary Fund: annually in October
  • International Bank for Reconstruction and Development: annually in September
  • International Finance Corporation: annually in September
  • African Development Bank: annually in May
  • Asian Development Bank: annually in April
  • Inter-American Development Bank: annually in April
  • World Trade Organisation: annually in May
  • Financial Stability Board: annually in January

Data providers

Description:

The United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Trade Organisation, and the Financial Stability Board.

Data compilers

Description:

The data is compiled and the proportions calculated by the Financing for Development Office, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.