Use of UAV imagery to produce Official Statistics in Saint Lucia

20 August 2025, Geneva, Switzerland — From 24 to 26 June 2025, UNITAR supported a three-day workshop in Castries, Saint Lucia, as part of the country’s ongoing experimental data project. The initiative aims to explore the integration of data collected via unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with other sources, namely the 2022 Population and Housing Census, satellite imagery, household surveys, and citizen-generated data, to produce official statistics.

As informal settlement areas are rapidly changing, utilizing UAV imagery would be a cost-effective method to improve population estimates and infrastructure vulnerability assessments. Throughout the workshop, participants worked in groups to discuss modelling results, further prototyping, and learned from the experience of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica’s use of satellite imagery for population estimates and informal settlements via a remote presentation. Discussion on vulnerability assessments in relation to policy needs was also held, with examples on work done in Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Bhutan. Closing the workshop, participants presented their action plans, and task forces were established to adjust/extend the population estimates model and develop a national vulnerability assessment approach.