INTRODUCTION TO OFFICIAL
STATISTICS
Lecture 1
OSF01 LECTURE 1
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INTENDED LEARNING
OUTCOMES
At the end of this lecture students
should be able to:
• Define Official Statistics
• Explain the guiding framework in
Official Statistics
• Discuss the nature and coverage
areas of the Official Statistics
• Official Statistics (OS) focuses on
INTRODUCTION compilation of useful social, economic
and vital statistics. For example,
statistics on National Accounts,
Population, Crime, Health etc.
• It is done under the guidance of a
standard framework designed by the
United Nations (UN)
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• The National Statistical Office (NSO) is
in charge of doing this exercise. It has
legal powers to collect data within the
Statistical Act of the country.
• Some other government and
international agencies also do this
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WHY IS OFFICIAL
S TAT I S T I C S I M P O RTA N T ?
• Helps to design policies
• Set targets (such as in SDGs)
• Help various users (private sector,
OSF01 LECTURE 1
governments, academics & researchers
etc.)
• Let’s watch this
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• General Data Dissemination System
THE UNITED (GDDS) – spells out the standards and
N AT I O N S
principles for member countries for
FRAMEWORK
official statistics.
• Fundamental Principles of Official
Statistics – sets out the 10 principles of
Official Statistics.
https://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/hb/E-f
undamental%20principles_A4-WEB.pdf
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• Data Quality Assessment Framework
(DQAF) – structure for assessing data
quality.
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N AT U R E A N D C O V E R A G E O F O F F I C I A L
S TAT I S T I C S
Economic and Demographic Vital Statistics
Financial Data Data
Environment
Prices Census and
Health
Monetary data demographic
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Social variables
characteristics
Finance such as crime
Trade
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O F F I C I A L S TAT I S T I C S I N
T H E PA C I F I C
ACHIEVEMENTS
• Statistical literacy - SPC
• Modern statistical officesin some countries (Fiji,
Vanuatu)
• Quality of statisticians have improved overtime
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CHALLENGES
• Data quality is still being questioned in many cases.
• Resource constraints
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STUDENT ACTIVITY
Discuss in pairs.
How is Official Statistics different from Mathematical Statistics?
Students to discuss and present the answers.
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THANK YOU
9 OSF01 LECTURE 1
