5 Conclusion

The methodology presented in this note ensures that the PRESS continues to serve as the most reliable and comprehensive source of information on funding towards statistical systems, providing a consistent evidence base for analysing trends in funding.

Drawing on the CRS, the methodology builds on a data source that offers detailed and comparable reporting across donors and sectors. While the use of CRS data also presents specific challenges when measuring support to statistics – such as linguistic variation, imprecise reporting or partial project objectives – PARIS21 provides a methodological framework to address these challenges.

Building on the already effective text analysis approach used in previous cycles, this refined methodology takes advantage of the capabilities of state-of-the-art LLMs to handle linguistic complexity and contextual nuance to accurately classify projects regarding their relevance to statistics. This ensures that the database remains an up-to-date reference for understanding how international aid contributes to strengthening data and statistical systems worldwide.