Proposal Description

In a world increasingly shaped by data, the importance of official statistics often remains in the shadows, even within NSOs. Yet, these official statistics (like employment rates, gross domestic product and pandemic data) are the lifeblood of democracy, influencing policy making, media narratives and electoral choices. In this work, the vital nexus between official statistics and democracy is highlighted by quantitative data and historical perspective (among others, Keynes, Schumpeter and Popper).
The correlation, which I calculated, between the Democracy Index and the Statistical Performance Index (SPI) for 2019 for 167 countries is 70.1%. Countries with a high level of democracy experience a high level of statistical performance. For instance, Norway has the highest score in the democratic index in the world as well as in the statistical performance indicator. Or in Africa, Mauritius is a ‘Full Democracy’ and the SPI is the highest score in the continent. However, there are also exceptions, examined hereafter.
Especially in democratic countries, the media dedicates more space to the figures of the official statistics, than the best football player or singer. Every day, in the news, we listen to the employment rate, the GDP, mortality rate, car accidents and along with others. All these statistics are collected, produced and then disseminated by the National Statistics Offices (NSOs) around the world. The irony of it all is that, at the same time, it is quite unlikely that the media dedicates time and space to explain the responsibility of the NSOs around the world.
NSOs should be an independent body from the state but sometimes they are not. NSOs are an established entity and independent of the government all over the world. The methodology used by NSOs is mostly established and coordinated by the United Nations Statistics Division and other international organizations. The statistics of the NSOs help the population to better understand and to assess how the government is managing the economy and society. Nevertheless, the general public does not know the real function of the NSOs all over the world.
Malaguerra (2005) exposed a similar idea in this way: ‘Yet statistical science either remains quite unknown to a large proportion of the population or is considered as a very peculiar, special and difficult mathematical discipline reserved for some strange academicians with their heads in the clouds. On the other hand, the media publish a large amount of statistical information every day, about all manner of human activity. Only a handful of people are aware of the fact that statistical science underpins information about a country's economic performance, stock exchange trends, future weather patterns, and the security of airline travel’.
This work not only underscores the global significance of official statistics, but also aligns with the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).