III. >> M  ethodological Approaches to Human Rights Indicators >> Disaggregation of human rights indicators A major advantage of using information based on expert judgments is that it can be collected very quickly and can be effective in presenting a first assessment of the situation. Often, such assessments capture the overall situation quite well. Yet, they generally fall short of reliability and data comparability standards, which in turn may affect their public acceptability. As a method of human rights assessment, particularly with regard to monitoring the compliance of State parties to international human rights instruments over time, such a method may serve only a limited purpose.46 C. D  isaggregation of human rights indicators In the international human rights normative system, there is a strong demand for statistical information that goes beyond national averages, reveals the most deprived or vulnerable population groups and helps measure inequality and discrimination. For instance, while infant mortality (children under one year of age) has declined in most countries in recent decades, the incidence of infant mortality is significantly higher among the poorest households across all regions. Figures in the Human Development Report 2010 show that infant mortality in the poorest households (bottom fifth of income distribution) is nearly double that of the richest (top fifth) in the Arab States, East Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. Similarly, Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples often face structural disadvantages in key human rights areas.47 For instance, the World Bank reported that while more than half of the total population were poor in Bolivia and Guatemala, almost three quarters of the indigenous peoples were poor.48 Assessing gender discrimination also requires the disaggregation of statistics by sex (see chap. IV, box 22 on statistics on gender and the human rights of women). In relation to the right to education, for instance, the ratio of female to male for the mean years of schooling shows that in all regions girls receive significantly less school education than boys.49 While disaggregated statistics are essential for addressing human rights concerns, it is not always practical or feasible to disaggregate data at the desired level. Disaggregation by sex,50 age, region (e.g., urban/rural) or administrative unit, economic wealth (e.g., quintile or decile of income or expenditure), socioeconomic status (e.g., employment status) or educational attainment, may, for instance, be easier than by ethnicity, as the identification of ethnic groups may involve objective (e.g., language) and subjective criteria (e.g., self-identification) 46. For additional examples and a review of data-generating mechanisms, see, for instance, T. Landman and E. Carvalho, Measuring Human Rights (Routledge, 2010). 47. For instance, a report commissioned by the Council of Australian Governments, using a set of indicators, revealed that perinatal and infant (within one year) mortality rates of indigenous peoples remained two to three times the non-indigenous rates and the unemployment rate was 15.6 per cent for indigenous people and 5.1 per cent for non-indigenous people (Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2009 (Canberra, Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision, 2009). Available from www.pc.gov.au/gsp/reports/indigenous/keyindicators2009 (accessed 24 May 2012)). 48. Gillette Hall and Harry Anthony Patrinos, eds., Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Human Development in Latin America: 1994–2004 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). 49. See UNDP, Human Development Report, 2010—The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). 50. The Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women recommends the presentation of data disaggregated by sex and age to reflect problems, issues and questions related to women and men in society for use in policy and programme planning and implementation. See Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II. 68 Human Rights Indicators