Towards an international framework for statistical councils of national statistical systems

Abstract

The number, variety and importance of statistical council bodies at national level has continued to grow over the years since this trend was recognised in the UN Handbook of Statistical Organization ^1 in 2003. This article brings together some ideas and arguments about the role and future of such bodies, as presented at a Special Topic Session on this theme at the World Statistics Congress in Hong Kong in August 2013.

The article summarises the main points from three papers presented at the session, each of which approaches the topic from a different perspective, and offers some further observations and conclusions. As well as the three contributing authors identified in the article, particular thanks are due to Margarita Guerrero, Director of the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific who acted as discussant for the session.

Whilst the discussion at the WSC session tended to reject the concept of an internationally agreed set of standards that a statistical council body should demonstrate in order to achieve international recognition as a national statistical council, there was nonetheless wide support for an open dialogue between such bodies to share information about their roles and experience.