A country’s official statistics often fall under the responsibility of a range of different bodies, not limited to a single statistical institution. Statistics may be produced by or with the health service, the educational system, the central bank, the justice system, a range of ministries, and so on. On top of this, some countries have one centralized national statistical office, whereas others have offices at the regional or other sub-national level or subject-specific statistical offices. The key to maintaining consistency and credibility, then, is to ensure that all of these producers act in concert to serve the common goals of the national statistical system.

Coordination among these various offices is not only essential to ensure efficiency. It’s also a crucial means of earning trust. Discordant figures on a single topic from two different strands of the national statistical system could sow confusion and undermine users’ faith in their credibility. And any appearance of duplicated effort – two different offices producing statistics on the same thing, or asking respondents for the same information – could raise questions about inefficient use of public funds. As the promise of integrating data from different sources grows, people will become ever less willing to provide the same information to different bodies if they perceive them to be linked and think that they ought to be talking to each other and sharing information.

However the statistical system is organized, a core feature of a coordinated statistical system is that everything bearing the hallmark of ‘official statistics’ fulfils all the quality standards and other criteria laid out for them. The chief statistician bears the ultimate responsibility for assuring this coordination and quality. Coordination is achieved through laws, codes of practice, supervisory committees and joint development of workplans and budgets. Depending on the country, all official statistics may be channelled through a central body, or a ‘seal of approval’ may be provided to statistics that meet the required standards.

National institute of Statistics and Censuses of Argentina

ARGENTINA: A CENSUS REQUIRES GREAT COORDINATION

Video (in Spanish with English subtitles) originally posted at this link

Mariano Poledo, National Director of Planning, Institutional and International Relations:

“Here in Argentina, we want to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and especially congratulate the UNECE for promoting them 30 years ago.”

Pablo Ceballos, National Director of the National Statistical System:

“One of the Fundamental Principles is principle eight, on the coordination of National Statistical Systems within each country, that make up the whole statistical system.

In our case, we have recently carried out our population Census. We have 24 jurisdictions, each with their own Statistical Office working constantly with INDEC. Thank to this and to coordination with all province governments, we were able to have 650,000 census-takers and 80,000 tract, area, and district chiefs working in the field on the same day. This would not have been possible only with the efforts of INDEC, or any central statistics office. A census requires national mobilization of the central, provincial, and municipal governments, and of society. But, above all, it requires great coordination work between all bodies of the National Statistical System. In Argentina, the NSS is substantial, diverse, and extensive.”