Source: European Parliament
There are two sets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators: those of the United Nations[1] (UN) and those of the EU. Both aim to measure progress towards achieving the SDGs, but differ in scope, focus, and application. Thus, the EU SDG indicator list[2] is tailored and coordinated but not fully aligned with the global indicator list.
The UN SDG indicators are entirely managed by the UN, either countries produce the indicators and report directly to UN, i.e. not through the Commission, or the UN or its agencies (such as FAO) produce the data without intervention of the countries. In no case the Commission verifies those SDG data sent to the UN or produced by the UN.
However, if the countries send the same data both to the Commission and UN, the Commission verifies the data received. This happens e.g. if there are EU regulations requiring the EU Member States to report such data to the statistical office of the EU (Eurostat).
The European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW)[3] data come from administrative sources. Eurostat receives ESAW data from national authorities based on the employers’ declarations of accidents at work.
As specified in the European reference metadata[4], a significant issue for the accuracy of ESAW is assumed to be the under-reporting of accidents[5].
The incidence of fatal accidents at work is considered more accurate for cross-country comparisons than the non-fatal accident rate and hence used in the EU SDG indicator list.
Data on accidents at work are produced using a common methodology[6]. Eurostat and Member States are working to address comparability issues in Commission expert groups.
The Commission has no influence on national data submitted to international organisations such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the UN.
- [1] https://unstats.un.org/sdgs
- [2] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview
- [3] Based on https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/349/oj/eng
- [4] Further detailed in the reference metadata of the dataset https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/hsw_acc_work_esms.htm
- [5] It is possible that certain accidents that should have been reported were in fact not, e.g. if enterprises or workers are not aware of the obligation/possibility to notify or if they are afraid of the consequences of notification such as possible state investigations and requirements to invest in health and safety.
- [6] European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) — Summary methodology — 2013 edition — Products Manuals and Guidelines — Eurostat: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/ks-ra-12-102