‘Poverty and inequality during COVID-19 using big data’ report launched

Densmaa 2021-07-09 03:07

Society

Key findings were introduced from a joint research study report on “Mongolia: Poverty and inequality during COVID-19 using big data” conducted in partnership with the National Statistical Office (NSO)

Key findings were introduced from a joint research study report on “Mongolia: Poverty and inequality during COVID-19 using big data” conducted in partnership with the National Statistical Office (NSO), the National University of Mongolia (NUM), the Ministry of Finance, and the Information Technology Center for Custom, Taxation, and Finance.  Highly engaging panel discussion with leading experts discussed the opportunities and challenges in employing big data for socio-economic assessment. It addressed insights and key challenges in harnessing the potential of big data analytics in Mongolia, especially for tracking changes in spending, poverty, and inequality. The UNDP and National Statistical Office collaborated with national academia and the government agencies to conduct this pilot research to examine the impact of COVID-19 on consumption, poverty, and inequality in Mongolia in 2020 by using big data – the data generated by the Value-Added Tax (VAT) e-system. This is the first time that big data generated from value-added tax (VAT) records is being used for research and analysis to generate alternative estimates of poverty and inequality in the country. This work has provided us with an opportunity to understand the changes in household spending in Mongolia due to COVID-19 related shocks to the economy. Most importantly, it showed how VAT data can be used to track changes in spending, poverty, and inequality much more frequently than was possible until now.