http://data.un.org/Feedback.aspx
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
‘UN-data’ portal: Confidential evaluation/proposal from Havana
Havana City, Nov. 24, 2007
Mr. Paul Cheung
Director, United Nations Statistics Division
New York, NY 10017, USA
Fax: +1 212 963 9851
http://unstats.un.org
Dear Mr. Cheung,
Thank you so much for requesting my assistance to help evaluate the new 'UN-data' portal.
It has been a great idea this integration of UNSD with other UN databases, and with the links to the national statistical offices/centers through the ‘UN root web site address’.
I hope in the future it could be related with appropriate IT through your 'UN-data' portal many more databases and data sets of all the UN agencies and of other noted international governmental as well as non governmental and academic institutions of the world.
Using the 'UN-data' portal with a sample of specific personal research needs of UN-data between 2000 and 2007, in the Cuba’s case, other socialist countries, and other non-capitalist and capitalist countries, I will comment and suggest you on the issues as follows:
-Cuba’s infant mortality rates (IMR) in the 1950s of the UN. World population prospects: The 2006 revision, 2007. Available: http://esa.un.org/unpp & http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cdb (Accessed 15 & 19 Nov 2007) are contradictorily very inflated in relation to the ones in the UN. Demographic Yearbook 1966. 18th edn. New York: UN Publ; 1967, and UN. Statistical Yearbook 1979. New York: UN Publ; 1980.
Cuba’s IMR retrospective extrapolations to the 1950s from the 1970s-1980s, by PAHO and other regional agencies, have not taken into account integrally its socioeconomic, political, civil, educational and health ‘miracle’ from 1900 to 1959, due to its proximity to the US and very specific characteristics of the island.
McGuire JW, Frankel LM. Dimensions and determinants of mortality decline in pre-revolutionary Cuba. Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Working Paper Series. vol. 14 no. 6. Cambridge, 2004. www.globalhealth.harvard.edu/hcpds/wpweb/McGuire_wp1406.pdf (Accessed 15 Nov 07), have made a comprehensive study on the matter.
Those Cuba’s IMR rates of the 1940s and 1950s are also in contradiction with Cuba’s high life expectancies at birth in the 1940s and 1950s, but have been accepted by the socialist government to reinforce the effects of the Cuba’s socio-ideological showcase.
UNICEF statistics division could expand its IMR data bases back to at least 1900 in perhaps more than 150 countries. UNICEF. Annual report statistical tables, 2007. www.unicef.org/sowc07/docs/sowc07_tables.pdf (Accessed 15 Nov 07).
From 1900 to 1948 there are five-year estimated data in those UN yearbooks, which do not appear in the UN-data portal. In addition, there are estimated data for many nations in different academic university data bases, which links could be given, by the moment.
Since 1959, Cuba’s socialist government suffered the great challenge to maintain with its unproductive economy, the great decreasing trend in infant mortality and natality rates achieved previously at least from 1850 with progressive capitalism. This was solved apart that with children programs, also reporting neonatal deaths of minutes of birth, as if they were medium or late fetal deaths --or stillbirths (omitting the births), and playing with the fetal, infant, perinatal I and II mortality and birth data/rates estimations every year. Afterwards, they ideologized this reduction, showing the world better IMR than in USA, as if all the progress were made by the socialist revolution --imported from the former USSR, expert in IMR and data reduction manipulation, as was detected in the 1990s.
The early and medium fetal deaths after minutes of birth, occasioned in 48 years by the copious institutional classical abortions, newer embryo transvaginal aspirations known as ‘menstrual regulation procedures’ for first-trimester pregnancy interruption, and by Rivanol’s procedures for second-trimester pregnancy interruption, have been never reported, and have been always considered as non important as early fetal deaths.
The highest abortion rates and sterilization rates from the 1960s, have allowed the socialist state to mount a showcase preserving the exceptional 1900-1959 decreasing trends of IMR from 1970 to 2007, of course favored by the above manipulation of death and live births estimates, guided by secret political aims through the health and communist party managers.
-Cuba and other countries’ life expectancy at birth exist in the UN-data portal, as well as in the UN. Statistical Yearbooks from 1948 to 2006. New York: UN Publ; 1949-2006. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cdb/cdb_series_xrxx.asp?series_code=14830 (Accessed 15 Nov 07)
From 1900 to 1948, there are estimated data for many countries in different academic university data bases, which links could be given, by the moment.
University of California-Berkeley and Max Planck’s Institute for Demography Research. Human mortality and life table databases, 2007. www.mortality.org ; http://www.lifetable.de (Accessed 15 Nov 07), are two of them.
*Urban percent and adult literacy percents appear as their inverse rural and illiteracy percents, so a general suggestion to search could be: Try different or opposite keywords.
*It seems to me that the UN-data portal enter-mechanism is still very rigid to accept similar keywords, and this consumes time. It perhaps needs the same high flexibility of the PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez (US National Library of Medicine), and friendlier data enter of medical keywords; or of the Scholar Google http://scholar.google.com or of the most open Google www.google.com, if possible. In addition, it could be estimated and put there the number of databases, time-series, data-figures and external links given.
-Cuba and other countries’ urban/rural percents exist in the UN-data portal until 1950, as well as in the UN Statistical Yearbooks from 1946-8 to 2006. From 1900 to 1949 there are estimated data for many countries in different university data bases, which links could be given, by the moment.
-Cuba and 138 developing countries’ adult illiteracy rates appear only from 1980 to 2003, when there are annual data from Cuba and many countries in the UN Statistical Yearbooks from 1946-8 to 2006; data from UNESCO estimated from 1900 to 1950s; and data given including the more developed countries.
UNESCO. Progress of literacy in various countries; World illiteracy at mid-century. Monographs on fundamental education VI, XI. Paris: UNESCO Publ; 1953, 1957. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0000/000029/002930eo.pdf (Accessed 15 Nov 07). From 1900 to 1950 there are also estimated data for many countries in university data bases, which links could be given, by the moment.
-Cuba’s Kcal and grams of animal/vegetable protein consumption per person/day in FAO data sets are manipulated by the state from 1959 to hide the chronic dearth. In 1948-49 and the 1950s, Cuba had more than 2700 Kcal and 80 g of protein per person daily, by the old FAO Statistical Yearbooks.
In the Cuba’s famine from 1991 to 1999, and after its very slow end in the 2000s, these food consumption data have been more inflated than ever, with food acquired for the increasing international tourism and one-party/military/state bureaucracy high consumption, plus the usual socialist system need of extra artificial improvement (inflation) of the socioeconomic, civil and political figures. These very inflated figures appears in the FAO yearbooks in all those years from 1990 to 2005. http://faostat.fao.org/ (Accessed 15 Nov 07).
It is highly probable that during this famine a 95% of the Cuban natives had as average of 1500 Kcal and 30 g of per capita/daily, and that in 2000-2007 the figures have improved at most recovering to less than 2500 Kcal and 50 g per person/day. (Personal estimation suffering the starvation of my family, friends and mine)
The famine in Cuba in 1991-1999 was an exception in 500 years of the world modern history for the 95% of an entire country population, which could have been prevented before the imminent collapse of the USSR. It was due mainly to the destruction of the own economic infrastructure since 1959, cut in 1989 of a huge USSR subsidy, to the return from overseas of several hundreds of thousands military-intelligence troops, high rigidity of the central planning unproductive economy, trade, and highly dictatorial state.
The famine, accompanied by the lack of liberties, electricity, water, gas, transportation, and all basics, originated a massive emigration overseas in handmade rafts where thousands of people died in 1994 drowned and eaten by the sharks. It affected all the cities and countryside’s villages dependent of the unproductive state farms. It produced extreme weigh loss of the people. It generated an optic/peripheral neuritis pandemic from 1991 to at least 1995, with forbidden report of cases after 1995 to avoid the health scandal in the socialist health showcase. It accelerated the deaths of many retired elder, fact recorded and observed even in the manipulated crude rates of mortality after 64 years in the 1990s and 2000s data. Finally, the famine began to be mitigated when the Cuban government opened in 1993 the banned US family shipments, the free agro-market in 1994, and allowing and promoting the before banned tourism for non socialist countries.
It could be given the time-series for 200 countries from 1946 to 1989 by the FAO Statistical Yearbooks and even back to 1900 by the also estimated data for many countries in university data bases, which links could be given, by the moment.
-Cuba’s sugar cane production in 1958 was the first in the world with about a ton of sugar cane per inhabitant, and the beef meat and milk production was a consequence of a head of cattle per inhabitant. These both productions and the overall production of meat and marine fish, among others as cereals, tubers, and rice, have been greatly decreased in the past 48 years. It is important to give the time-series for the 200 countries from 1946 to 1989 by the UNSD and FAO Statistical Yearbooks, and back to 1900 by the estimated data for many countries in academic data bases, which links could be given, by the moment.
-Cuba’s annual GDP US$ UN DPAD/Link estimates are inflated, because they are unilaterally calculated by none standard international criteria, and they are greater than in most countries worldwide. Hence, Cuba’s annual GDP per capita, GDP, and GDP per capita growth rates as other derived statistics are matchless with the other countries of the world.
-Cuba’ socialist state annual military investments and expenditures have been greatly artificially deflated from 1959 to 2007 in our few National Budgets (while are very inflated education, health, and social security), to hide the extraordinary control of Cuban natives, and the astonishing expenditures in overall military and intelligence overseas from near 200 Cuban embassies of the world, against mainly the U.S. The latter include first-class Soviet/Russian Radio-Electronic Bases, Chinese US-type Satellites/Supercomputers, and ideological person to person subversion in Florida, Washington, D.C., NY, other US states, Western Europe, in all Latin American, African and Asia-Oceania countries, in UN agencies in NY/Geneva, and global institutions.
Excuse me, but I have not been able to find these indexes in the UNSD database, but think that is very important for the developing countries advance, the UN monitoring of military expenses. This could be monitored from 2007 to 1946 and back to 1900 progressively too.
-Cuba’s four intra-national currencies not recognized abroad with value fixed by the state: 1. the old Cuban native peso from 1900 lost in 1960 its international equivalence 1:1 to the US dollar due to a socialist government unilateral maneuver (it is still a mystery the real exchange value although the state still says that is 1:1); 2. A Cuban golden peso appear artificially equal to 1 US dollar from 1993 to 2005 (Since 1993 to 2000, 1 Cuban golden peso was pushed from 100-130 in the street market to 32-26 Cuban natives pesos in state exchange-houses). 3. From 2005 to 2007, the Cuban golden peso received a high tax of exchange becoming artificially equivalent to 1.20 US dollar for the Cuban natives (Since 2001-2007, the Cuban golden peso become artificially equal to 24 Cuban native pesos). Cuban average wage in 2005 is less than 200 Cuban native pesos or 8 Cuban golden pesos or 10 US dollars.
-Cuba and North Korea’s GDP per capita, in the Angus Maddison historical statistics database’ exist from around the 1900s standardized for 1990 US$ converted GK PPP, as well as for more than a hundred countries. www.ggdc.net/maddison (Accessed 15 Nov 07).
-Highest population physician ratio or density in socialist countries is a constant since the existence of the former USSR in comparison with other indexes. To understand this specific behavior it could be matched to other variable values very related: the lowest general physician average wage monthly in these socialist countries. It is very important that the UNSD begin to monitor together both indexes in the UN Statistical Yearbook. The danger that has to let disconnected both variables, is that before the lack of so many physicians in the developing world, the UN agencies could think that the Cuban medical education system of the last decades is superior to the one before 1959, as well as in the rest of the countries today. This could be a serious error for the concept of the preparation of high qualified physicians and for the progress of medicine and public health in the future.
This could be monitored progressively from 2007 to 1946 first, and after to 1900 too as other indexes, guided by the NBER and ILO very interesting efforts. Of course, it would be very important to put pressure in the socialist countries to cooperate with these databases, because they hide that their physicians, scientists, and engineers are the most unfair paid in the whole world, even in the poorest sub-Saharan Africa countries.
US-National Bureau of Economic Research. Occupational wages around the world; International labor organization, 2007. Available: http://www.nber.org/oww/ ; http://laborsta.ilo.org (Accessed 15 Nov 07).
-Cuba’s telephone main lines and pop-density appear in the UN-data portal only from 1981, when Cuba was of the first countries in the world to use them freely since the 19th century to 1959. (Even Antonio Meucci, the Italian precursor of the telephone invention, made and tested its first prototype in 1857 at Havana, before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in the U.S.).
These data are available in the UN. Statistical Yearbooks since 1946, and in the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Yearbook of Statistics (Geneva), www.itu.int, and perhaps, from before. This index could be monitored progressively from 2007 to 1946 first, and after back to 1900 as other indexes in the future.
Since 1960, Cuba’s data deserve two explicative notes. 1st note: Cuban natives have no liberty to rent fixed telephones; they are only for foreigners and natives authorized by political criteria by the one-party state. 2nd note: Cuban natives have no liberty to make of their own phones overseas calls (without collect) and to send overseas faxes. These calls and faxes are only for less than 1% of Cubans authorized by the state.
-Other general suggestion is to allow the search by ‘phone’, by ‘mobile phone’, by ‘cell or cellular phone’.
-Cuba’s cellular mobile phones and pop-density deserve three explicative notes: 1st note: From 1984 to 1991 this was only for high leaders and military officials. 2nd note: From 1992 to 2007, Cuban natives had no liberty to rent cell phones; they were only for foreigners and natives authorized by political criteria by the one-party state. 3rd note: In mid-2007 has been a very silent opening for natives (which I still have not read in anyplace, as we have heard, paying a very high entrance in Cuban golden pesos).
-Cuba’s personal computers and population-density deserve three explicative notes:
1st note: From 1975 to 1985 this was only for high leaders and military officials and centers. In 1985 it began in civil centers as MINSAP and many others; 2nd note: Cuban natives have had no liberty yet to buy a private PC in Cuba; all are owned and in use by the state work centers; 3rd note: Cuban natives until 2007 had forbidden entering freely in Cuba a PC bought overseas, and only could do this with a minister authorization. These operations are freely for foreigners and less than 1% of natives authorized by political criteria by the one-party state.
-Cuba’s internet subscribers and pop-density deserve three explicative notes. 1st note: From the 1980s to 1990, this was only for high leaders and military officials units and centers. In 1996, it began in civil centers as MINSAP and many others with great restrictions (as a director has to authorize the content of an email of the subordinate); 2nd note: Cuban natives never have had liberty to rent privately internet accounts; they are only for foreigners and less than 1% natives authorized by political criteria by the one-party state. 3rd note: In 2004-2007, of the number of internet subscribers authorized by the state (13 x 1000) in the UNDP HD Indexes, less than 1% of those Cuban natives have full internet access. 99% of them have no access to web mail, search power engines (except Google), with access to less than 0.001 % of selected political correct web pages, and international media news. The privileged Cubans with controlled internet have restricted access have to be authorized by political criteria by the one-party state.
Important Note: I have very few and sporadic Internet access, sometimes sharing some foreigners accounts and other times buying them in the black market, at a very high prize; double, triple or quadruple of the Cuban average wage of 10 US dollars monthly.
It is very important that UN agencies know that in very close countries as North Korea, Cuba, Viet Nam and China and other countries with restricted telephone, cell-phone, foreign media, radio and TV broadcasting, and internet access, to facilitate the access to the other non UN sources of data, these links could be instrumented through the UN root web site address http://www.un.org/, which Cuba and other UN members are obliged to respect.
-Cuba only allows for the Cuban natives circulation of one-party state newspapers and magazines, as well as one-party state radio stations and TV channels broadcasting by antenna. All the other Cuban attempts of independent Cuban media as of foreign media are forbidden. Even some radio and TV stations from USA are electronically interfered at a very high cost for the Cuban treasure since 1960. Only foreigners residing in Havana and less than 1% of natives authorized by political criteria by the one-party state can use all of these foreign media including foreign TV by cable and broadband internet. All these indexes deserve explicative notes in the future. These indexes could be monitored progressively first, from 2007 to 1946, and after backward to 1900 as other indexes in the future.
-In North Korea, Cuba, and other socialist countries, would be endless the list of UN indexes with open access for foreigners and 1% of natives authorized by political criteria by the one-party state, and with access restricted for 99% of the Cuban natives as I. Among many more indexes, there are some as follows: to buy/or rent in a free market apartment/houses, fields, build apartment/house; buy/rent cars, motorcycles, airplanes, sea-boats, even a little boat of oars; rent rooms in Cuban hotels, do international tourism; buy electric plants, other commodities as videos, microwave, toast-ovens, freezers, electric heaters and kitchens, cloth drying. For Cuban native ‘active’ students and professionals (working for the state), is restricted to make overseas scholarships, fellowships, Sabbath years; attend to scientific exchanges and specialty meetings; be self-employed, while the professional is not retired from the state as I since 2006. All these indexes of economic and social development deserve explicative notes in these countries to understand well their meaning.
-Cuba’s UN human rights and liberties were unobserved only in a six-year period 1952-58 of the capitalist Republic of Cuba from 1900-1958. Nevertheless, from 1959 to 2007, the UN Human Rights Act has been continuously violated in most of its individual civil, economic, social and political freedoms by the 48-year one-party one-man dictatorial state. UN. Universal declaration of human rights. New York: UN Publ; 1948. www.un.org/Overview/rights.html ; UN. Report on international definition and measurement of standards and levels of living. New York: UN Publ; 1954.
In the UNDP tables of human development indexes, about 60 individual UN human rights observance are globally measured as the sign or not of related UN documents, which are imprecise surrogate indexes, but not real individual specific rights observed.
In this sense, there is an annual global survey by Freedom House, which could be studied for the UNSD evaluation of each country according to the UN agreements.
Freedom House. Freedom in the world 2006. Annual global survey of political-rights and civil-liberties, 2006. www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/pdf/charts2006.pdf (Accessed 15 Nov 07).
-One very important human right of the individuals and population of a nation is the ‘economic index freedom’, due to its great importance fostering socioeconomic, civil and political growth in developing countries. In this sense, there is an annual global evaluation by the Heritage Foundation, which could be studied for the UNSD evaluation of each country according to the UN socioeconomic and human rights agreements.
Heritage Foundation. Indexes of economic freedom. WCAS, 2007. www.heritage.org/research/features/index/countries.cfm (Accessed 15 Nov 07).
-Cuba and North Korea’s GINI index of inequality is absent in the UNDP data matrix. It is possible that in so captive economies and societies, this index have paradoxical results not well seen by the communist leaders, which proclaim their systems as champion of the social equality. It is important that North Korea and Cuba be obliged to inform in the future with the UN criteria this GINI index, as well as other dictatorial states of the world, and to report their data with all the components and values very clear, or if the index is calculated by the UNSD to accept it, with explicative notes.
-The same UNDP Human Development Index of the Nobel Prize Amartya Sen, could be calculated retrospectively by the UNSD old data sets, not only from 2007 to 1975, but also until 1950, and after till 1900, maintaining the strong criteria on life expectancy at birth, adult literacy percent, and GDP per capita for the 200 countries.
Hopefully in the future, it could be incorporated a fourth component or variable: individual rights and freedoms rankings. This will show clearly the results of the democratic or dictatorial, capitalist, non capitalist or socialist models of development, and will enhance an overall human development in the UN country members that had stayed behind due to the adoption of erroneous choices of policies.
UNDP. Human-development-index tables, 2007. http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/pdfs/report/HDR_2006_Tables.pdf (Accessed 15 Nov 07).
*I could not find the important variables time-series in the UN-data portal as follows:
-Annual number and rates of embryo transvaginal aspirations, known as ‘menstrual regulation procedures’ for first-trimester pregnancy interruption.
-Annual number and rates of Rivanol’s procedures for second-trimester pregnancy interruption.
-Annual number and rates of ‘surgical sterilization of women in fertile age’.
-Annual general physician average wage monthly, in national currency and in U.S. dollars.
-Annual professionals in research and development average wage monthly, in national currency and in U.S. dollars.
-Annual number and population-density of private telephone main lines for natives with possibilities of international calls (not collected) and faxes overseas.
-Annual number and population-density of private cell-phones for natives with possibilities of international calls and international modem connection.
-Annual number of radios and TVs and population-density with access to all international stations and channels broadcastings by antenna and cable.
-Annual internet subscribers with full access to all the millions of foreign www sites.
-Annual number and population-density of foreign newspapers and magazines consumption.
-Annual proportion of nationals or natives with full private access to all modern information technology
-Annual grams of animal protein consumption per person/day promised by the FAO SY and database will be very much appreciated, due to its importance in the individual body and brain development.
-Annual military investments and expenditures, and proportions of them in the national budgets or accounts.
-Annual observance of each of the about 60 UN individual human rights and liberties and/or the proportion observed according to the UN Human Rights Acts and UN newer agreements.
Very Special Suggestion:
In the case of the Republic of China or Island of Taiwan (Formosa) since 1949, due to its great importance as very successful developing country (or former province of the mainland China), the UN data-portal could make an exception and give the link to the Statistical Bureau of Taiwan http://eng.stat.gov.tw, while the debate with the mainland communist China is solved through peaceful and successful negotiations in the long-term for both parts, as it was solved with Hong Kong and Macau.
It could be given to Taiwan or Republic of China recognized and supported by the U.S. in 1949, the same UN international right to exist as independent republic that was given to West Germany, South Viet Nam and South Korea, and that was given to the same mainland People’ Popular Republic of China, East Germany, North Viet Nam and North Korea, promoted and supported by the former USSR since the 1920s.
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Dear Mr. Cheung,
After reading your impressive biography, I have been encouraged to write you very personal comments and a short proposal to improve the richness and utility of the UN data-portal.
I do not know if this will need a special project or in any other way, with some leading universities as Groningen, California Berkeley and Davis, Max Planck’s Institute and/or others.
Comments and Proposal.
The world development needs in this 21-century, after the 75-year retardation since 1917, due to massive ideological misinformation and manipulation of socialist countries data given to the UN agencies, to retake the capitalist way of socioeconomic, political and civil growth, as have made very successfully the East Asian Tigers, Ireland, India, some Baltic countries, and even China and Viet Nam, in a very restricted way with restriction of most individual liberties for 99% of their peoples.
I want to insist in some points:
A specific issue to study: Cuba’s socialist state is reporting that its annual abortions rates are drooping, http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cdb/cdb_series_xrxx.asp?series_code=14700 , while non-reported embryo transvaginal aspirations rates (‘menstrual regulation’) are climbing since the 1980s. North Korea, Cuba, Viet Nam and China continue using as the former USSR taught well them, the UN agencies offices, UN officers, and their national manipulated statistics given, to legitimate their socioeconomic, political and civil oppressive and obsolete system. Please, read how Cuban state manipulates US and UN agencies: www.saludthefilm.net/ns/MEDICC-Letter-to-ABC-News.pdf
It could return a wider usage of explicative notes in each country variable in the online databases, as it was the rule in the first decades of the UN Demographic and Statistical Yearbooks, apart of refining better operational definitions, which could include all the possible meanings, procedures and new variants.
A general issue to study: Small increments in length of life are not as important as noteworthy increments in quality of life. Even achieving significant increments in literacy and schooling are not so useful, if the aim is instruction with indoctrination and ‘robotization’, rejecting a wide education and culture in the best traditions of each country and of the humanity. The issue is to develop long life citizens freer, healthier, more civilized, active, educated, creative, and wealthier. The UN Human Development (HD) Set of Indicators Project is wonderful, but it deserves a wider and deeper hierarchization and ‘operationalization’ to be more useful.
I encourage you and your advisers to take a look to my anonymous paper (and some anon references too), fruit of a seven-year very personal study with huge difficulties and limited access to UN yearbooks, academic monographs, full internet of narrow-band, and blackouts interrupting the work in my old Pentium 3 PC solved in the black market. I have written it, with two US academicians, and will publish it anonymously in some journal or working paper series, if possible. In it, you will have much more concrete comments and suggestions supporting the matters commented above. Please, read it in: http://rational.fortunecity.com/papertablerrh.htm Comments and suggestions will be very appreciated to [email protected]
It should be finished in a hundred of countries, so much oppression, discrimination, terror, hunger, poverty, educational/cultural and civic/politic illiteracy; so many preventable epidemics, premature deaths, unplanned births, and avoidable misfortunes, letting know the researchers how the world has been developed by its UNSD large time-series.
The ‘Angus Maddison historical statistics database’ www.ggdc.net/maddison model in world, region, and countries, on population, GDP, GDP per capita, with their three rates of growth, could be extended to other key UN HD indicator makers of socioeconomic, political, and civil development from the year 1 to 2007, with projections to 2030, with standard criteria and procedures that UN members as North Korea and Cuba should be obliged to accept in the future, as well as other still authoritarian states of the world.
Some of these UN key indexes could be infant mortality rate, life expectancy at birth, adult literacy percent, and some index of individual rights and freedoms, within others.
Groningen Growth Development Center. Total economy database; Angus Maddison historical statistics database, 2007. www.ggdc.net (Accessed 15 Nov 07).
Every year data from 2007 to 1900, could be taken from the pre-internet and post-internet published UN Demographic, Statistical, UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO, UNDP, and rest of UN and world agencies as World Bank, Regional Banks, IMF, League of Nations, PAHO, yearbooks, reports and monographs at least in PDF format.
From 1750 to 1899, the data could come from the Brian Mitchell’s International Historical Statistics for Europe, The Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania (which I have not been able to examine personally), and/or from other academic efforts on the matter.
The world researchers and policy makers should have the possibility to dynamically analyze in space and time the intra-national and international socioeconomic, political and civil growth indicator markers, to study in depth scientifically the hypothetical causal factors that influence in the advances, stagnation, delays, and setback of the developing countries, and of the very developed too.
This will allow the cross-sectional international as well as the self-controlled intra-national comparisons of data and trends avoiding the lack of historical baseline controls, common bias in current national and international human development studies.
Finally, it should be tried the test in any way possible of the multivariable impact of the creation of the UN international institution and agencies before and after 1948. In this context, data from 1900 to 1949 are as important as the data from 1950 to 2007.
The UNSD could become by itself a very proactive factor of change, freedom, growth, and human development of the retarded countries and regions, instead of a huge and passive recipient and archive of acritical data and indicators not fully analysed ‘by others’ with a progressive view, if it could take in its hands much more critically and analytically its key informational worldwide mission, which is much more than to describe what have been happening in more than 200 countries in the last years or decades turned of the scientific evidence of the last 257 years accumulated in development economics and policies.
I sincerely congratulate the election of so experimented professionals of the East Asian Tigers for the UN, UNSD and WHO key leading positions, and other I do not know.
I wish you much success with the UN-data portal project and with your key UNSD mission. Forgive me, if this effort did not satisfy your expectations.
Looking forward to hear from you soon,
Sincerely,
Rodolfo
Rodolfo J. Stusser, MD, MSc, MPH.
Freelance Researcher, Biostatistics & Informatics Consultant
(Retired of Havana University, MOPH & Scientific Pole Institutes)
International Member of the US AAFP and NAPCRG
Private Office: Calle F # 256 apt. 2 interior / 11-13, Vedado, Havana 10400, Cuba.
Tel & fax 537-832-3461 & 537-832-2169
http://rational.fortunecity.com;
Primary Health Care e-Research Collaboration Center
Home: Calle F # 264 apt. 16 interior 2do piso / 11-13, Vedado, Havana 10400, Cuba.
http://havanacenter.familydoctors.net
PS. Last December 2006, I requested to the CDB data of 1957 and 1900, and sent different comments and suggestions to your UN Statistics Division officers. I have included these below as a complement, due to the value of treasure that I give to your UNSD centenary data sets in paper and in cyberspace for the future progress of developing and developed countries.
Enclosure: Below, past exchanges of email messages to/from the UNSD.
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Roddy & Lolita Stusser" <[email protected]>
To: "Statistics" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 12:13 PM
Subject: Re: Data availability for Cuba
Dear UNSD
Officer,
Thank you for your kind attention. I shall have to travel overseas to
consult the UN statistical yearbook series of the 1950s and 1960s by the moment.
Best wishes,
Rodolfo
----- Original Message -----
From: "Statistics" <[email protected]>
To: "Roddy & Lolita Stusser" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 7:17 AM
Subject: Re: Data availability for Cuba
Dear Dr.
Stusser,
Thank you for your interest in the United Nations Statistical Division.
As we already advised you in previous e-mails the official data is communicated
through governmental channels.
Best regards,
UN Statistics Division.
From: "Roddy & Lolita Stusser" <stusser@infomed.sld.cu>
To: "Statistics" <[email protected]>
19/01/2007 09:33
AM
Subject: Re: Data availability for Cuba
Dear UNSD
Officer,
Thank you so much for your kind and explanatory answer, but unfortunately it
maintains the problem unsolved with our national statistics, and others
from
governments that use to change history concealing the old data sets telling
that they are not reliable.
Passing to a happier note, last year reviewing a paper for the EOLSS of UNESCO,
I could knew about the fabulous Brian Mitchell's Historical International
Statistics from 1750 to 2000s in Europe, America, Asia and Oceania, and I was
very impressed by the series of birth rate, analyzed and published by some US
economists in Internet. Unfortunately, they did not analyze more key data.
I am worried about the concepts. The historical statistical memories of any
country are not a private property of any government of the last hour of a
country in particular. I understand that the older data sets with older
definitions, does not let to analyze historical tendencies in one-country
comparisons, and hence in international comparisons of trends, but they always
have great value in cross-country international comparisons for the old periods
of time, issue very important in international development economics and health
too. Please think on this, and if it is suitable the total exclusion of data by
the new concepts and systems.
The thing is that I am now helpless to obtain a basic cross-country
international comparisons of Cuba with about 70 countries in 1957-58 in life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate over 14 years, GNI per capita, and total
population (please, see my attached table), because the United Nations Agencies
at Havana, Cuba, do not have these two U.N. publications:
United Nations. Statistical Yearbook 1960, 12th Issue. New York: United Nations
Publ., 1961.
United Nations. Demographic Yearbook 1966, 18th Issue. New York: United Nations
Publ., 1967.
I read both books at the Cuban National Library Jose Marti three years ago and
now they say that do not have them...
Forgive me for this discussion, but I think it is good for all of us.
Happy New 2007,
Kindest regards and best wishes,
Rodolfo Stusser
Havana, Cuba.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Statistics" <[email protected]>
To: "Roddy & Lolita Stusser" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: Data availability for Cuba
Dear Dr. Stusser,
The national accounts section of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)
collects, as a rule, only the data which is officially provided to it through
the National Accounts Questionnaires. Data sets received every year are stored
and disseminated in publications and through our website, and supersede
previous data sets.
Please note that the current national accounts database is the result of
successive data migrations from older databases. This database is tailored to
reflect the System of National Accounts (SNA) 1993 and accommodate data
compiled under the older SNA 1968. It thus contains a large part of the data
that was incorporated in older databases; however, some old data whose
structure did not conform with the SNA 1968 or with the SNA 1993 structures was
not transferred from an older system to its replacement.
Nevertheless, such data is available in the published national accounts
yearbooks.
Please note that the UNSD treatment of Cuba's data is no different from other
countries.
We are therefore unable to go beyond the latest figures provided to us by our
official counterparts at the national statistical office of Cuba, at this time.
Regards,
United Nations Statistics Division.
"Roddy & Lolita Stusser" <stusser@infomed.sld.cu>
To <[email protected]
12/01/2007
02:30 PM
Subject: Re: Data availability for Cuba
Dear UNCDB Officer,
Thank you so much for your kind answer on so complex and delicate matter.
The problem that I find is that the Republic of Cuba is only one, and it
was founder of the United Nations Organization from 1946 to 1948. Cuba computes the GNI and GDP and many economic indexes from 1900 on.
From 1948 to 1958, Cuba had two capitalist governments that reported to the United
Nations. Statistical Yearbook. I know that the socialist government since 1959
reported to the same yearbook until 1966, at least that I know, and very
probably after too. Why do not you put in the UNCDB all the statistics you have
in those UN official books from 1948 to 1966 and later? Because the
socialist government does not want to consider the statistical series
before 1985 as in Animal Farm of Orwell, and does not report them as valid...?
I think that you must consider that the statistics given before by two Cuban governments
have validity to be over the desires of the present government that tends in
everything to hide the economic statistics to all the UN and American
Agencies... and you have already them in your official books of the UN.
Statistical Yearbook...
In my personal opinion, you should give the Cuban people and professionals the
right to know what happened in Cuba from 1948 to 1958 and from 1959 to 1984 by
all the UN statistics available, not only the demographic ones.
Please, ask this question to the new Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who does
not have commitment with anyone.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon,
Kind regards and best wishes,
Rodolfo
Dr. Rodolfo Stusser
Health Research Consultant
F # 256 apt. 2 interior 11-13,
Plaza 10400, Havana, Cuba.
Tel.(537)832-2169 Fax.832-3461
[email protected]; [email protected]
http://havanacenter.familydoctors.net;
http://rational.fortunecity.com
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]
To: <[email protected]
Cc: <[email protected]
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 12:25 PM
Subject: Data availability for Cuba
Dear Dr. Stusser,
Thank you for your interest in the United Nations Common Database (UNCDB).
Regarding your query concerning the data availability for Cuba, for example regarding GDP, please note that we only collect what the member states report
to us. The earliest data we have on the national accounts of Cuba is from 1985.
There are other data in the UNDCB that go as far back to 1950, for example on
some demographic indicators (series 13681 Age group 0-14 as percentage of total
population (UN Pop. Div. quinquennial estimates and projections) [192 countries,
1950-2050]).
Best regards,
Statistics Division
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
United Nations HQ
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 5:00 AM
Subject: Data request
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your interest in the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).
Please note that in general the UN collects data from National Statistical
Offices and not from individual sources. Moreover, we collect data to the
extent of the longest time series the UN has collected.
Best regards,
Statistics Division
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
United Nations HQ
----- Original Message -----
From: "subscriptions" <[email protected]>
To: "Roddy & Lolita Stusser" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 7:07 AM
Subject: Re: Access to the UNCDB
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are pleased to offer you trial access and the information is as follows:
Login ID: A7441624
Password: 5167656
Expiration: 5 January 2007
Thank you.
Happy New Year!
With kind regards,
Mary Ann Carello
United Nations Publications
Two United Nations Plaza, Room DC2-853
New York, NY 10017
http://www.un.org/Pubs/whatsnew/online.htm
Tel: 1-800-253-9646, Fax: 212-963-3489
E-mail: [email protected]
From:
"Roddy & Lolita Stusser" <stusser@infomed.sld.cu>
To: <[email protected]>
24/12/2006 04:06
PM
Subject: Access to the UNCDB
Dear UNCDB Officer,
I am a retired top health researcher and professor, who only earn $ 12.00 US
dollars monthly. I am doing a scholar international health investigation on Cuba health results vs. other developing countries of the world.
I need to access your UNCDB, because in the National Library of Havana, weeks
ago, I could not review the printed versions of the United Nations. Statistical
Yearbook 1960. 12th Issue. New York: United Nations Publ., 1961. They told me
that they did not have these publications, when I reviewed them openly two
years ago.
I have gone to the Library of the UNESCO Office at Havana, and they did not
know these publications and did not gave me the possibility to find them in
Internet.
By the way, I would like to make you a valuable proposal. Why don't you extend
backward your statistical historical series, at least to 1900, 1850, 1800 and
1750, obtaining the data from the very expensive books absent in Cuba too: Brian R. Mitchell. World International Historical Statistics: at least in the
following indicators: general mortality and infant mortality rates, life
expectancy, birth rate, literacy rate, GNI per capita. I think that with
this extra data, your UNCDB will gain more value.
Mitchell, B. R. 1975 European Historical Statistics 1750-1970. London: Macmillan
Mitchell, B. R. 1993 International Historical Statistics: The Americas,
1750-1988. London: Macmillan
Mitchell, B. R. 1995 International Historical Statistics: Africa, Asia
and Oceania 1750-1988. 2nd rev. ed. New York: Stockton.
Have a happy Holy Night, merry Christmas and prosperous New Year!
Best wishes,
Rodolfo
Dr. Rodolfo Stusser
Health Research Consultant
F # 256 apt. 2 interior 11-13,
Plaza 10400, Havana, Cuba.
Tel.(537)832-2169 Fax.832-3461
http://havanacenter.familydoctors.net
http://rational.fortunecity.com