Today is World Statistics Day. For the very first time in the history of official statistics the United Nations has dedicated a special day that acknowledges the bean counters of the world and to celebrate their professionalism and integrity.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says: “Statistics are a vital tool for economic and social development, including our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”
South Africa, like so many countries in the world, agrees that quality statistics is a prerequisite to good planning that will meet the needs of the society to provide a better life to its citizens.
The Statistician-General, Mr Pali Lehohla says: “The United Nations has declared the 20th of October 2010 [20-10-2010] World Statistics Day, and today we celebrate service, integrity, and professionalism in the fields of official statistics.”
Lehohla stressed the United Nations view that statistics permeate modern life; they are the basis for many governmental business and community decisions. They provide information and insight about the trends and forces that affect people’s lives.
On this World Statistics Day the global trend is to firmly move towards evidence-base policy making – and the call is that this phenomenon must become irreversible in every country, because without good statistics it will be impossible for governments or business to make informed decisions.
Today Statistics Sout Africa (Stats SA) only produces about 10% of the statistics necessary to measure South Africa’s performance in terms of both planning and measuring levels of success, but over the next five years the organisation plans to bring together all producers of statistics and to coordinate these to ensure all statistics needed are produced and they will be of a quality that is fit for use.
This development is already reflected in the latest country report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Stats SA in partnership with other producers and civil society has reported on the progress made by South Africa in terms of the MDGs.
As the report notes, the functional literacy rate of 15 to 24-year olds increased from 88% in 2002 to 91% in 2009, but the maternal mortality rate is still high and increasing. The main message of the report is thus that in some areas of the MDGs South Africa is doing well, but is lagging behind in a number of other goals.
Conclusion
Stats SA launched the Census 2011 campaign 10 days ago, and response was overwhelming, so many people asked about working on the census and there were many questions on how the census will be done. Stats SA is continuing to inform the nation about the census.
“We have our work cut out for us,” says Lehohla, “but Stats SA is ready to count everybody within the borders of South Africa during October 2011.”
Lehohla says he appreciate that people are raising important questions about the relevance of census and whether is it worth having the big count.He says; “The case for a census is indisputable – without such an undertaking it is difficult to plan for the country’s economic development and planning for a better life.”
Media enquiries:
Trevor Oosterwyk, Manager: Communications
Tel: 012 310 8130
Cell: 082 908 9104
E-mail: trevoro@statssa.gov.za
Background document
World Statistics Day [20-10 2010]
The statistical community has worked steadfastly in the past decades in building a global statistical system that the world can rely on. It is a community united in providing high quality, reliable, impartial, timely data that is crucial for economic and social development. Today, World Statistics Day is celebrated for the first time and pays tribute to statisticians’ outstanding work in producing and disseminating the necessary data to respond to the everyday new challenges and to measure progress in people’s lives.
Statistics are a daily part of national and international life and policy-making, but never before did the international community officially pay tribute to Official Statistics through dedicating them an international day. More than 100 countries and territories and over 40 international agencies will mark this Day with special events and activities.
Acknowledging that the production of reliable, timely statistics and indicators are indispensable for informed policy decisions and monitoring implementation of the
Millennium Development Goals, the General Assembly designated 20 October as World Statistics Day in Resolution A/64/267. Official statistics are data produced and disseminated by national statistics offices, other government departments’ statistical units and indeed by many UN, international and regional statistical units.
“Statistics are a vital tool for economic and social development, including our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. For development to succeed, we need data collection and statistical analysis of poverty levels, access to education and the incidence of disease,” states Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon in his Message on World Statistics Day.
Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang stresses that there is much to celebrate after more than 60 years of work on official statistics at the United Nations: “That official statistics from countries around the globe are produced in a reliable, accurate, scientific and comparable manner is a great collective accomplishment. It is the result of the service, professionalism and integrity demonstrated on a daily basis by dedicated experts in the national statistical systems across the world.”
Without solid information we cannot measure where we are and what needs to be done. If the world cannot get the right numbers, it cannot push for the right solutions.
Rapid technological developments offer new opportunities to collect and process a larger volume of official statistics with unprecedented speed. And the internet, smart phones and social networking services enable statistical services to disseminate the data to a wider spectrum of users, including policy makers, researchers, businesses, the media and the public at large.
However, access to new methodologies and technologies is uneven and many developing countries are struggling to build or even just sustain their national statistical capacity in this time of economic hardships. Strengthening national statistical capacity worldwide so that all countries have reliable data on economic and social issues must remain our highest priority
“The notion of a global professional statistical family, that transcends political, economic and cultural differences among countries, is perhaps the biggest achievement of all,” says UN Statistics Division Director Paul Cheung, in his own Message for the Day.
“We, at the UN, are committed to assisting countries so that every citizen in the world can rely on a well-functioning system that regularly produces, analyses, and disseminates relevant and quality statistics — statistics that respond to users’ needs and concerns, statistics that can help us respond to new challenges and bring about policy changes,” he adds.
Key activities scheduled to mark World Statistics Day:
- Public events such as conferences, seminars, round-tables, lectures, press briefings, messages by senior officials (including Heads of State), TV quiz, information in schools on upcoming Census, commemorative stamps, exhibits, etc. are being organised in over 100 countries and territories (see annexed list), by national statistical offices, international organisations, civil society organisations oruniversities.
- The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics will be launched at UN Headquarters in New York and at the World EXPO in Shanghai (at a joint UN-China ceremony). This report illustrates the direct contribution of Official Statistics to social progress. The World’s Women 2010 presents a state of both progress and shortcomings in the path towards gender equality, from health and education to decision-making and gender-based violence.
- Many international entities and UN agencies are organising joint conferences or round-tables to mark World Statistics Day, notably in Geneva, Santiago, Vienna and Washington. In Barbados, UNICEF will brief school children on its statistical work. In Brussels, Eurostat will brief the media on how the European statistical community supports statistical institutions in developing countries.
