She said “better data” is fundamental if the international community is to achieve the ambitions of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were signed off last Friday in New York.

“A data revolution is as fundamental as anything to achieving the Global Goals. What gets measured gets done. And when lots gets measured, lots get done. Only by collecting and using good, measurable, open, accessible and disaggregated data can we leave no one behind,” Greening said.

“The digital age has presented us with the technology and opportunity to make this data revolution possible – it’s up to us to seize the opportunity.”

The World Bank Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building (TFSCB) is a multi-donor trust fund designed to improve the capacity of poor countries to produce and use statistics.

Greening said the private sector also needed to share its expertise and open up useful data for development purposes.