The International Labour Organization (ILO) has released two new publications aimed at improving the measurement of cooperatives globally: Measuring Cooperatives (Second Edition) and Implementing the ILO Guidelines Concerning Statistics of Cooperatives: Insights from Five Countries. Both publications draw on pilot studies conducted in Costa Rica, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Türkiye, and the United Republic of Tanzania, supported by the Government of the Republic of Korea. Currently available in English, they will soon be published in French and Spanish to broaden accessibility.
Measuring Cooperatives (Second Edition) serves as a practical guide for translating the ILO Guidelines concerning statistics of cooperatives, adopted in 2018 as the first international statistical standard on cooperatives, into actionable steps. It provides detailed instructions for national statistical offices, government agencies, ILO social partners, cooperative stakeholders, and researchers on collecting and analysing cooperative statistics consistently. The guide covers key concepts, including cooperative types, statistical units, and work associated with cooperatives, while also offering methods to gather comparable data on membership, employment, and economic contributions. Lessons from the five pilot countries inform best practices such as testing questionnaire modules, integrating cooperative data with business and household surveys, and measuring economic, social, and environmental contributions. The guide emphasizes that robust statistics can enhance understanding and promotion of cooperatives’ role in fostering decent work and sustainable development.
Implementing the ILO Guidelines Concerning Statistics of Cooperatives: Insights from Five Countries focuses on practical application of the ILO Guidelines. Drawing on pilot studies, it presents condensed national experiences, highlighting successes, challenges, and practical recommendations for improving cooperative statistics. The publication covers topics such as defining cooperative types, integrating cooperatives into business registers and surveys, and combining administrative sources with special-purpose data collections. Designed as an actionable resource for statistical offices, line ministries, and the cooperative movement, it underscores the importance of embedding cooperatives into official statistics for better recognition and policy-making.
Together, these publications support harmonized, reliable, and internationally comparable data on cooperatives and the broader social and solidarity economy (SSE). The findings from the pilot studies also provide a foundation for developing a comprehensive statistical manual on cooperatives and SSE guidelines, expected to be presented at the 22nd International Conference of Labour Statisticians in 2028. Through this initiative, the ILO and its partners aim to ensure that the economic, social, and environmental contributions of cooperatives and SSE entities are fully acknowledged in global statistical systems.
