The growing demand for statistics: challenges and

opportunities

Pilar Martin-Guzman

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Significant increase in the demand for statistical

information

• A challenging issue for official statisticians

• But every challenge is an opportunity

Statisticians have taken advantage of these

opportunities

• Statistical information has improved

• A “silent revolution” (Domingo Solans)

• But, do current statistics satisfy the users?

The demand increases

• Traditional users grow and expand their fields of interest

• New users join in

• The scenario changes

• Users are more exacting on quality issues

Traditional users

• International organisations (IMF)

• Governments

• Market players and enterprises

• Researchers

• Public at large

Three groups of countries

• Well established democracies with market economies

• Countries in transition from non-democratic regimes with centrally planned economies

• Consolidating democracies

Some newcomers

• Supranational organisations (ECB)

• Decision makers at regional and local level

Changes in the scenario

• Globalisation

• The ICT revolution

Some challenges from globalisation

• Massive migration inflows

• Internationalisation of the markets

• New interest in remote countries

Some challenges from the ICT revolution

• New indicators are necessary

• Some of the present statistics become irrelevant

• Frequent up-dating of definitions and classifications

The elements of quality

• Relevance

• Coherence

• Timeliness

• Interpretability

• Accessibility

• Accuracy

Perception of the user

• Not necessarily coincident with the opinion of the producer

• It depends very much on expectations (statistical literacy)

• The impossibility to replicate surveys

Decision makers and market players

• Accuracy versus timeliness

• What is really important about accuracy is not so much increasing it as measuring it (Sir Claus Moser, 2003)

Researchers

• Consistency of time series

• Accessibility versus confidentiality

• Statistics used in new research fields: risks and opportunities.

Groups deserving special attention

• The new decision makers

• The media

Conclusions

• For a positive perception of the users, improving the statistical production is important:

• This is the task of official statisticians

Conclusions

• But improving the statistical liteacy of the users is also important

• And this is a task for all statisticians