"Official statistics are data collected and validated by both national statistical agencies and international organizations. Nearly every country has an agency for official statistics. They collect information and organize it into statistics about myriad aspects of life, including what people earn, how many individuals are employed, how well children perform in school, the quality of nutrition, how long patients have to wait for an operation, levels of air pollution and increases to average temperatures."
"Official statistics are like the backbone of a nation's data infrastructure. Just like any other infrastructure - roads, bridges and highways - they cannot fail."
"There is a new type of politics that is undermining the credibility of official statistics. People who work with or study official statistics say that they have never experienced a period similar to today's situation. Those who call the current state a crisis think it has been triggered by an accumulation of overlapping factors."
Official statistics, collected and validated by national agencies and international organizations, form the backbone of nations' data infrastructure. These statistics inform government policy, business planning, and progress toward UN Sustainable Development Goals. They measure critical indicators including employment, education, health, and environmental conditions. Researchers describe the current state of government data as experiencing uncertainty, loss of trust, and crisis. A new type of politics is undermining the credibility of official statistics. The crisis stems from multiple overlapping factors, including declining response rates to national surveys. Experts emphasize that official statistics infrastructure cannot fail, as it is essential for informed decision-making across sectors.
#official-statistics #data-credibility-crisis #government-data-infrastructure #survey-response-rates #political-undermining-of-statistics
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