New Trends in International Statistics

Abstract

The article deals with the directions of development of modern international statistics. The main events in international statistics are described in detail: the 61st World Statistical Congress of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) and its satellite conferences. The main problems, strategic priorities and new approaches to solving methodological problems of international statistics are described. At the same time, the emphasis is on innovation in international statistics.

During the last decade, an explosion in computing and information technology has taken place. With her came a huge amount of data (Big Data) in various fields such as medicine, biology, finance, and marketing. What ethical problems arise in connection with the Big Data? What is the role of web scanners in collecting data for compilation of official statistics? What indicators are important for policy making? These and many other topics were discussed during the 61st World Congress of Statistics, ISI. Participants of the congress, which represents statistical, scientific and business communities, exchanged views on recent developments in the content and methodology of statistics.

International Statistical Institute has published the Strategy ISI 2017-2021. To increase activity and facilitate open dialogue, the International Statistical Institute organized an open meeting to discuss strategic priorities with its members. During these meetings, the opportunity was offered to provide practical guidance and suggestions on the most important activities, goals and achievements of the ISI and its associations

The special event “Statistical Approaches to Environmental Impact and Climate Change Measurement” was held at the Congress, organized by the High Commission for Planning, the Moroccan Presidency of COP22 and the United Nations Statistics Division with the participation of the State Secretariat for Sustainable Development. During this event, issues concerning the statistical measurement and quantification of environmental indicators related to natural resources management, the effects of climate change and risks of natural disasters were discussed. Another problem that was considered at the congress was the problem of the development of information technology.

The article deals with new tasks facing official statistics. With the rapid development of the survey methodology, various government agencies are now exploring how to combine national data from surveys with administrative data and census data to create reliable statistics for small areas.

The problems of the association of researchers and practitioners who are interested in the interaction of computer sciences, statistics and data visualization are considered.

The article also deals with problems of international statistical education. The focus was on the following question: the era of Big Data, what does it mean for us statisticians-educators; creating socially responsible societies with statistics; employability skills for statistics graduates.