UNESCO Brings Data to New UN Platform Connecting People With Trusted Information

UNESCO has joined the launch with 18 datasets from its DataHub, marking a milestone in years of work to make the Organization’s information easier to access and reuse.

Finding reliable United Nations data can mean searching several agency websites and working through information presented in different formats, a process that takes time before research or reporting can even begin. The UN System Data Commons, launched by the United Nations Secretary-General on September 17, 2026, is designed to make that search easier by bringing public data from across the UN system into one shared platform. UNESCO has joined the launch with 18 datasets from its DataHub, marking a milestone in years of work to make the Organization's information easier to access and reuse.

One place to search across the UN system

Twenty-six UN entities have committed to sharing their public data through the platform, with seventeen, including UNESCO, already connected. Users will be able to search in everyday language for reliable, comparable information that has previously been scattered across the websites of individual agencies, funds and programmes. Bringing these resources together involves harmonizing data and presenting it according to common standards, giving Member States, researchers, journalists and the public a more practical way to find, compare and reuse information.

The project forms part of UN80, the Secretary-General's reform initiative to modernize how the United Nations operates, with data identified as a priority under Work Package 16. Its shared infrastructure is intended to reduce duplication and make information easier to exchange between agencies, supporting greater consistency inside the UN. The launch builds on several years of work led by the UN system's chief statisticians and a pilot run by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs between 2022 and 2024, before UN80 made the effort a reform priority.

Making shared data useful beyond a single search

The rollout has two phases, beginning with common access in 2026 and continuing through a longer-term programme to make participating data fully FAIR: findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. These principles address more than whether someone can locate a dataset; they concern whether people and digital systems can access it, understand how it is structured and use it again for other purposes. The programme will strengthen each participating entity's readiness to use artificial intelligence, supported by better-organized and more consistently managed information.

UNESCO's contribution is powered by its DataHub at data.unesco.org, with eighteen UNESCO indicators already available through the UN platform. Within UNESCO, the DataHub provides a single, reliable source of information supplied by the Organization's sectors and institutes, laying the groundwork for governed data management. Staff, partners and other stakeholders can draw from that shared source, giving the information a consistent foundation wherever it is used.

UNESCO's data work reaches a wider audience

The contribution reflects cooperation across UNESCO programmes and institutes, including the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, whose indicators are regularly consulted on the DataHub. Other widely used resources include the Global Atlas on Gender Equality in Education, known as Her Atlas, which journalists and researchers use in their work. The DataHub has published 54 datasets and recorded 104,000 downloads and 6.5 million API calls, meaning automated requests through which websites, applications and tools retrieve its data.

The same infrastructure powers several UNESCO internal AI tools and a number of its websites, following the principle of managing data once at its source and reusing it wherever it is useful. Recognition of this work at UN Secretariat level through UN80 allows UNESCO to demonstrate the strength of its data infrastructure to other agencies and Member States. Its participation brings that experience into a collective effort to provide dependable public information across the UN system.