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A M A N D A WA K A R U KG o v e r n m e n t I n f o r m a t i o n L i b r a r i a n
U n i v e r s i t y o f A l b e r t a L i b r a r i e sW I S L L 2 0 1 5
Official International Statistics
The 5 Ws & 1 H
I keep six honest serving-men(They taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and WhenAnd How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling. The Elephant’s Child. Just So Stories.
WHY ARE INTERNATIONAL STATIST ICS IMPORTANT?
WHAT ARE THEY MADE OF?WHO COMPILES THEM?
WHEN DID THIS ALL START?WHERE DO I GO TO F IND THEM?
HOW DO I WORK WITH THEM?
Reordering the 5Ws & 1H of International Statistics
WHY are international statistics important?
Statistics help us make sense of our world.
“the share of countries that are democracies has risen from less than a third to three-fifths [since 1970]. The 2011 Arab Spring marked another leap forward, appearing to end decades of autocratic rule for some 100 million people”
Human Development Report 2011. United Nations Development Programme. 2011, pg. 13.
WHY are international statistics important?
Statistics help us make sense of our world.
“Since the 1980s AIDS has slashed life expectancy in Southern Africa… in the most affected
countries life expectancy is now below 51 years; in Lesotho it
stands at 46—similar to that in England before the Industrial
Revolution.”Human Development Report 2010. United Nations
Development Programme. 2010, pg. 32.
Human Development Report 2014. United Nations Development Programme. Page 160.http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr14-report-en-1.pdf
WHY are international statistics important?
Statistics help us make sense of our world… critical thinking informs understanding.
“Canada’s overall crime rate is now 50 percent higher than the crime rate in the United States.
Read that again slowly – it seems incredible, but it’s true.”
David Frum. “Reaping what we sow.” National Post. Jan 3, 2006. pg. A14.
Gardner, D. “Crime story depends on the teller.” The Ottawa Citizen, Feb 15, 2006. p. A13.
Selley, Chris. “Crime and Embellishment.” TartCider Blog. Jan 6, 2006. http://www.tartcider.com/blog/archives/2006/01/crime_and_embel.html
WHY are international statistics important?
Ideally, policy decisions are informed by reliable, timely statistics.
“Unemployment has risen in most countries. The increase is
116 percent in Chile, 77 percent in Estonia and
Sweden…”“Increase in World Unemployment.” The Times.
April 1, 1933, pg. 9.
Human Development Report 2014. United Nations Development Programme. Page 98.http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr14-report-en-1.pdf
WHY are international statistics important?
Ideally, policy decisions are informed by reliable, timely statistics…
“Each year since 1988, Chinese officials have reported a steady rise in the number of fish caught off China’s shores, even as fish stocks almost everywhere else have declined...
according to the Food and Agriculture Organization... local officials passed inflated numbers to Beijing officials, who simply added them up without
validating them, and sent them along to the United Nations.”
Piore, A. & Mooney, P. (2002, January 21). “China’s statistics are fishier than its oceans; why the PRC overcounts its
annual catch.” Newsweek, 46.
… critical thinking informs understanding.
WHAT are international statistics made of?
data/statistics collected/compiled by national statistical agencies (NSAs): Statistics Canada US Bureaus (e.g., Census, Economic Analysis,
Labor Stats, Justice Stats) Institut Haïtien de Statistique et d’Informatique National Bureau of Statistics of China NSAs are listed on the United Nations Statistics
Division web site
data sources administrative survey-based
Exercise 1
1. Visit the web site of a National Statistical Office in your geographic area linked from the United Nations Statistics Division web site (http://unstats.un.org – National Statistical Offices, left sidebar).
2. Find an interesting statistic/statistical product.
3. Note the following: What statistics/statistical products are prominently
displayed on the homepage, if any? Can you determine if the statistics you found were derived
from an administrative source or a survey?
“Only 34 countries – representing just 15% of the world’s population – produce quality cause-of-death data.”http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2013/global_health_estimates_20130215/en/index.html
WHAT are international statistics made of?
Statistical Capacity (World Bank): the ability of countries to meet user needs for good quality statistics – usually those statistics that are consider to be “official” (i.e. those statistics produced by governments as a public good). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwyCAtyNYHw
&feature=player_embedded#at=432 (Dr. Michael Wesch)
National Statistical Offices are informed by IGO policies and assistance. Fundamental Principles of Official
Statistics (United Nations Statistical Commission)
Handbook of Statistical Organization (United Nations Statistics Division)
Technical assistance, training, financial support.
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/census/2010_PHC/censusclockmore.htm
United Nations Statistical Commission Agenda items considered from 2000 to 2013http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/commission.htm
WHO compiles international statistics?
International Governmental Organizations United Nations
UN Statistical Commission, UN Statistical Division (UNData) International Labour Organization World Health Organization World Bank (dataBank) International Monetary Fund (IFS) Human Development Programme
(Human Development Report) OECD European Union
(Eurostat, Bookshop)
WHEN did this all start?
1853- 1918: various statistical congress/society meetings
pre-1900: piecemeal at best; few reliable or relatively complete censuses at national level 1790s: United States, Sweden, Holland, Norway, Denmark 1800s: England, France
1919-1946 : League of Nations 1919: Conference on Intl Co‐Operation in Statistics 1928: International Conference on Economic Statistics International Labour Organization (ILO) and Health
Organization (later WHO) established LON Yearbook 1926-1944
http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govinfo/collections/league/stat.html
1944: Dumbarton/Bretton Woods GATT (WTO), IMF, World Bank
WWI: 1914-1918
WWII: 1939-1945
WHEN did this all start?
1946: United Nations Statistical Office first comprehensive comparative per capita income
figures first comparable index numbers for industrial
production first method for comparing production figures from
communist and capitalist countries 1953: System of National Accounts… “one
of the greatest social science research advances in this century and the foundation for most modern economic development” Farber, M. A. (1972, November 4). U.N. statistical office a growing success. New York Times, p. 11
1965: UNDP Human Development Report 1990
2002: Inter‐Agency Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities includes representatives from OECD, EU, WTO reports to the Statistical Commission
2007: “We have a system of global statistics but not a global statistical system.” (UNSD Seminar on the Evolution of National Statistical Systems)
“I had to become the Robin Hood for free data,” Dr. Hans Rosling“Making Data Dance.” The Economist, Dec 10, 2010.
gapminder.org200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 minutes• updated in Don’t PanicReducing Child Mortality
Statistics as a Public Good• objectives are to provide free
access to global statistics, to educate users about the importance of statistics for evidence-based policy and decision-making and to assist National Statistical Offices to strengthen their data dissemination capabilities
Gapminder Documentation
Income per person (aka GDP per capita by Purchasing Power Parities)http://www.gapminder.org/documentation/documentation/gapdoc001_v9.pdf
Gapminder Documentation
Life expectancy at birthhttp://www.gapminder.org/documentation/documentation/gapdoc004.pdf
WHERE do I go to find international statistics?
1. Reference interview: time period, geography, indicator.
2. If it’s unfamiliar territory, start with a web/literature search.
Find the *source* of statistics noted in the literature. Check authority of compiler.
3. Use UNData to explore possible sources.
Check footnotes and fine print; mine the metadata for context and other publications/sources.
HOW do I work with international statistics?
Pulling it Together: Example
Is this true?
Exercise 2: UNData
Use http://data.un.org/ to answer the following:1. Which three countries exported and imported the most
vaccines for human use in 2012 by quantity (not value)?2. According to Euromonitor International, people in the
United States spent an estimated $609,200,000 on gluten-free food in 2014. How many countries had a national income in 2013 less than this amount? (Use GNI, Atlas method, constant $US)
3. How many refugees who found asylum in Germany identified Canada as their country of origin in 2013? How many refugees who found asylum in Canada identified Germany as their country of origin in 2013?
Exercise 3: World Development Indicators
Exercise 3: World Development Indicators
Use WDI via worldbank.org to help answer the questions at right:
Where else can I go to find international statistics?
United Nations Specialized Agencies, Programmes and Funds, Other Entities, etc.
http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/structure/index.shtml
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
http://www.oecd.org/ (“statistics” link at top)
Eurostat and EU Bookshop http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/ http://bookshop.europa.eu/eubookshop/index.action
National Statistical Agencies http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/inter-natlinks/sd_nat
stat.asp
Google Search (& Scholar): public data statistics
Periodical Indexes and Databases (e.g., Statistical Insight, AccessUN, CIAO, PAIS, Academic Search Complete, CBCA)
Mitchell, B.R. (2007). International Historical Statistics, 1750-2005. 6th edition. 3 vols. New York: Palgrave.
Where can I go for help?
International Documents Task Force, Government Documents Roundtable (American Library Association) listserv: INTL-doc http://
www.ala.org/godort/taskforces/internationaldocuments/intldoc
Your WISLL friends!
Further Reading
Andreas, P. (2010). Sex, drugs, and body counts: the politics of numbers in global crime and conflict. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Busby, L. A. (1994). Statistical data dissemination: The experience of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Journal of Government Information, 21(5), 403-412.
Cheung, P. (2007, April 26). Millennium: big effort has produced statistical results. Nature, 446(7139), 974.
Cohen, I. B. (2005). The triumph of numbers: how counting shaped modern life. New York, NY : W.W. Norton.
Farber, M. A. (1972, November 4). U.N. statistical office a growing success. New York Times, p. 11.
Gardner, D. (2006, February 15). Crime story depends on the teller. The Ottawa Citizen, p. A13.
Giovannini, E. (2004, November 11). Sounder numbers equal a healthier democracy. Financial Times, p. 15.
McNeil, D. G. (2007, November 20). U.N. agency to say it overstated extent of HIV cases by millions. New York Times, p. A1.
Millennium. (2007, March 22). Millennium development holes. Nature, 446(7134), 347.
OECD (2012). OECD Work on statistics. http://www.oecd.org/std/oecdworkonstatistics.htm
Piore, A. & Mooney, P. (2002, January 21). China’s statistics are fishier than its oceans; why the PRC overcounts its annual catch. Newsweek, 46.
Ruger, P. (2005). The changing role of the World Bank in global health. American Journal of Public Health, 95(1), pp. 60-70.
Starr, P. (1987). The Sociology of Official Statistics. (W. Alonso & P. Starr, Eds.). In The Politics of Numbers (pp. 7-57). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
United Nations Statistics Division (2012). Major work areas and accomplishments: Advancing the global statistical system. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/brochures/UNSD_Brochure.pdf
Ward, M. (2004). Quantifying the world : UN ideas and statistics. Bloomington, IA : Indiana University Press.
WHY ARE INTERNATIONAL STATIST ICS IMPORTANT?
WHAT ARE THEY MADE OF?WHO COMPILES THEM?
WHEN DID THIS ALL START?WHERE DO I GO TO F IND THEM?
HOW DO I WORK WITH THEM?
The 5Ws & 1H of International Statistics
WHY ISN’T EVERYONE EXCITED ABOUT INTERNATIONAL STATIST ICS ?
WHAT DID I DO WITHOUT THEM?WHO CAN I TRUST TO PRODUCE THEM?
WHEN CAN I START USING THEM?WHERE CAN I INTEGRATE THEM INTO
CLASSROOM/DESK WORK?HOW DO I SHARE THIS WITH MY
COLLEAGUES?
The 5Ws & 1H of This Presentation
AMANDA WAKARUK, MLIS , MESGOVERNMENT INFORMATION L IBRARIAN
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTAAMANDA.WAKARUK@UALBERTA .CA
@AWAKARUK
Questions?
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