Implementing the ILO Guidelines Concerning Statistics of Cooperatives: Insights from five countries (2025)

As demand grows for reliable, comparable evidence on cooperatives’ contribution to decent work and sustainable development, this compendium shows how to put the ILO Guidelines concerning Statistics of Cooperatives into practice. Adopted at the 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (2018) and approved by the ILO Governing Body in 2019, the Guidelines mark the first international statistical standard on cooperatives.

Drawing on pilots in Costa Rica, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Türkiye and the United Republic of Tanzania, it distils practical lessons on concepts and definitions, identifying cooperative types, integrating cooperatives into business registers and surveys, and combining administrative and special-purpose collections.

Intended as a concise, actionable resource for national statistical offices, line ministries and the cooperative movement this compendium provides underscores the importance of integrating cooperatives into official statistics and shows how better data can illuminate cooperatives’ contributions to economies, decent work, and sustainable development.