In May this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) published World health statistics 2016 . ¹ This report presents the most recent monitoring data on health-related targets of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and summarizes data availability and data gaps. For more than half of 35 health-related indicators considered in the report, data were available for less than 75% of countries, and for four indicators, data were available for less than 40% of countries. Yet for many of the indicators where there is incomplete data availability, WHO, other United Nations agencies and academic institutions publish global estimates that include country-specific estimates. The production of health estimates has increased tremendously in recent years. The increase is mainly driven by a growing demand to have recent health statistics for key indicators, such as those that were used to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.