João Pedro Azevedo

João Pedro Azevedo is UNICEF's first Chief Statistician, appointed in February 2023 at UNICEF Headquarters to lead the organization's global data and statistical work.

Together with the Chief Data Officer, he will drive UNICEF's ambition of harnessing the transformative power of data to achieve results for children. He also holds the role of Deputy-Director leading the Data and Analytics work at UNICEF Headquarters.

Mr. Azevedo brings more than 15 years of experience in international development and five years in the Brazilian public sector both at the federal and state level. While at the World Bank, he has worked as the Lead Economist, EdTech Fellow, and Education Statistics Coordinator for the Education Global Practice. He also served as a Lead Economist and Global Lead for the World Bank Poverty and Equity Global Practice, co-leading the Global Solution Group on Welfare Measurement and Statistical Capacity for Results, as well as the Data for Goals agenda.

Before his tenure at the World Bank, Mr. Azevedo served as the superintendent of Monitoring and Evaluation at the Secretary of Finance for the State of Rio de Janeiro, as well as a research fellow at the Institute of Applied Economic Research from the Brazilian Ministry of Planning (IPEA). He is also a former chairman of the Latin American & Caribbean Network on Inequality and Poverty.

Mr. Azevedo is a Brazilian national and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Newcastle University.