Giovannini: The development of official statistics depends on statistical literacy of the society

During the meeting with the Director General of Statistics Estonia Priit Potisepp an important topic was the institutional and legal environment of producing Estonian official statistics. “It was surprising for the OECD that in Estonia the Government of the Republic confirms the list of indicators used for conducting statistical surveys and that the Minister of Finance confirms the questionnaires for the surveys,” Potisepp remarked. “This is interpreted as a theoretical possibility to interfere in the objectivity of official statistics and this peculiarity will be most likely reflected also in the report.”

More topics under discussion: the quality and relevance of official statistics, capability of statistics to provide the users with indicators measuring the development of the modern society and the ability of customers to orientate on the heavy information market. “The position of official statistics in fast developing information society is an important strategic issue,” Enrico Giovannini remarked. “The development of official statistics depends on statistical literacy of the society.”

Pursuant to the document of statistical requirements, reports will be prepared by the OECD on all five candidate countries for the next autumn. The reports will be submitted for assessment to the OECD Statistical Committee. The conference will be held in South Korea in October 2009. In parallel with Estonia discussions about joining the OECD are held with Chile, Russia, Israel and Slovenia.

Enrico Giovannini is the Chief Statistician and Director of Statistics Directorate of the OECD since January 2001. Before that he worked in the Italian National Institute of Statistics.