Introduction to Integrating Business and Trade Statistics
United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) (854)
The Handbook on Integrating Business and Trade Statistics (HIBTS), endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) in 2025, provides practical guidance for linking business and trade data to produce more coherent and comprehensive insights on enterprises engaged in international trade. This introductory e-learning course aims to strengthen the technical and institutional capacities of National Statistical Offices (NSOs). Through interactive lessons, learners will gain foundational knowledge and practical skills to apply the Handbook on Integrating Business and Trade Statistics HIBTS framework, supporting the production of higher-quality, more consistent, and more policyrelevant statistics. HIBTS, endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) in 2025, provides practical guidance for linking business and trade data to produce more coherent and comprehensive insights on enterprises engaged in international trade.
By the end of the course, participants will be better positioned to:
- Explain the importance of linking business and trade statistics to support broader economic analysis and informed policymaking
- Identify the main statistical frameworks, units, data sources aligned with quality framework that underpin business and trade integration
- Describe the main steps and methods for compiling and linking business and trade statistics
- Recognize dissemination strategies and confidentiality considerations. Identify emerging innovations in statistical integration
Lesson 0: Course Overview gives instructions on course navigation and introduces the course. It is followed by 6 lessons:
Lesson 1: Policy drivers for integrating business and trade statistics
Lesson 2: Conceptual frameworks
Lesson 3: Data sources & Data Quality framework
Lesson 4: Methods and Process for linking business and trade statistics
Lesson 5: Dissemination and confidentiality of integrated statistics
Lesson 6: Innovation in linking business and trade statistics
This self-paced e-learning course is developed in English and consists of six lessons. Each lesson is developed around the overall learning objectives, as well as second-level learning objectives specific to each lesson. The course adopts a learner-centered, interactive approach to build practical skills in integrating business and trade statistics. Participants progress through self-paced modules that combine clear explanations, examples, and short quizzes to reinforce learning, while practical case studies demonstrate how integrated statistics inform policy and decision-making. It is estimated that the total course study time is around 1.5-2 hours.
The e-learning course on integrating business and trade statistics targets the National Statistical Offices and all other relevant stakeholders.