Professor Paul Cheung is an Adjunct Professor (Practice) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. From 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2026, he served as the Director of the Asia Competitiveness Institute. He is now Senior Research Adviser at the ACI.
Professor Cheung returned to Singapore after serving as the Director of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York (2004-2012). At the UN, he facilitated the development of the global statistical system. He supervised a programme of work that included the development of international statistical standards, the dissemination of global statistical data, the provision of technical advice to member states in the development of national statistical systems, and the coordination of international statistical activities. In 2011, he initiated an intergovernmental platform to address issues in Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). This global multilateral mechanism addresses all issues related to global geospatial information and holds a series of high-level meetings every year.
Prior to his appointment at the UN, Professor Cheung served as Chief Statistician of the Government of Singapore (1991-2004) and facilitated the transformation of Singapore’s national statistical system. He was also the Director of Population Planning Unit (1987-1994) responsible for formulating Singapore’s new population policy.
Professor Cheung served as an advisor to many countries and conducted significant research and advisory work in Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, and the UAE. He was formerly chairman of ESCAP’s Statistics Committee and the United Nations Statistics Institute of Asia and the Pacific (UN-SIAP). He was an adviser to the Statistical Office of the Gulf Cooperation Council. He was the former President of the International Association of Official Statistics and the former Chairman of the International Steering Committee on Global Mapping.
He has received many national and professional awards for his work around the world. He was awarded, among others, the Public Administration Medal (Gold) by Government of Singapore in 2001, the state medal ‘Royal Order of Sahametrei (Grand Officer) by the government of Cambodia (2012), the Honorary Doctorate Degree (Doctor Honoris Causa) by the National University of Mongolia (2008), and the Von Neumann-Spallart Medal, by the International Statistical Institute (1999). He received the 2024 Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Award from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore.