Making global data easier to explore

Every year, UN system entities compile high-integrity data to track global challenges affecting work, learning, health, and care. But those statistics have lived in separate silos, organized in conflicting formats across and within different UN organizations, so connecting the dots often required months of painstaking manual work before analysis could begin.

To address this, the UN system is launching the UN System Data Commons, an open-source platform built on Data Commons by Google, with support from Google.org to the UN Foundation. It unites global statistics into one interconnected resource described as an AI-ready knowledge graph, making critical data universally accessible so researchers and leaders can track global progress in real time.

The platform is designed for complex global efforts that require understanding how datasets intersect, such as public health and poverty eradication. It automatically integrates metrics, timelines, and geographic boundaries into a single interconnected environment, allowing analysts to spend more time finding trends and designing evidence-based solutions instead of formatting spreadsheets.

The UN System Data Commons uses AI to democratize access through intuitive natural-language search. Users—from nonprofit program managers to journalists to international policy analysts—can ask plain-language questions and instantly receive relevant data and interactive visualizations. Example queries include how rural clean-water access affects school attendance, how many people gained electricity access in the last decade, and how life expectancy has changed across regions. For browsing, an Explore tab filters by location or themes such as health and education, while a Blog section breaks down trends into ready-to-read reports, such as using UNICEF data to explore what works to reduce child poverty. Every dataset is validated with UN system statisticians and technical experts so answers remain grounded.