Abstract
Every source (household surveys, establishment surveys, registers) has its own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, statistics from different sources will contradict each other. But coherence is a prerequisite for user-friendliness. This implies that the development of integrated social statistics deserves top priority. As shown by some examples of Statistics Netherlands, integrated social statistics are not too costly, they are flexible and can be produced very timely.
Although there is a great challenge to create broad systems of multidimensional social statistics, it is of utmost importance to develop coherent social statistics step by step, starting by doing first things first like the production of relatively simple coherent basic data. Concepts used in statistics must be as close as possible to the intuitive concepts held by users.
New techniques make the further development of social statistics very promising. For example, automation of the surveying process creates new possibilities in establishment surveys to capture more data at lower costs and with a lower response burden. In combination with the use of register data the costs and the response burden can be lowered further substantially.
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