It is expected that public policy should be based on evidence rather than on any ideology, or any pre-decided goal. Public policymaking should ideally be ‘evidence-based.’ Data and information constitute evidence. Data needs to be processed and analysed to be used as evidence. To process and analyse data, we need data literacy. The Covid-19 crisis revealed the importance of data and data literacy for sound policy decisions. In the post-pandemic world, data literacy will be an essential skill for policymakers and civil servants. Data literacy should be an essential part of the relevant undergraduate and post-graduate degree curriculums, but also of the in-service training programmes for civil servants.