| The GDDS is less prescriptive than the SDDS, which prescribes specific standards that must be observed by countries that subscribe to it. The GDDS provides recommendations on good practice for the production and dissemination of statistics (generally less demanding than the corresponding requirements of the SDDS), but the emphasis is on progress, over time, toward higher quality data that are disseminated more frequently and in a more timely fashion.
Participation in the GDDS is open to all Fund members, whereas the SDDS is intended for member countries having or seeking access to international capital markets.
The GDDS does not set future dates by which participants must complete improvements in existing practices. In contrast, SDDS subscribers must fully meet the requirements of the SDDS at the time of subscription.
The primary focus of the GDDS is on improvement in data quality by providing a process for evaluating needs for data improvements and setting priorities toward that end. The GDDS metadata, therefore, identify the national authorities' plans for improvement in the short-and medium-term, as well as any associated needs for assistance in implementing these plans. This stands in contrast with the SDDS, where the focus is on data dissemination in countries that in general already meet high data quality standards.
In addition to macroeconomic and financial data (for the real, fiscal, financial, and external sectors) covered in the SDDS, the GDDS covers socio-demographic data (population, health, education, and poverty). The World Bank, in collaboration with other international institutions, has taken the lead in developing a set of recommended good practices for specific indicators within each of these four socio-demographic data categories.
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Dissemination
