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UNECE "Making Data Meaningful" guide series- Parts 1, 2 and 3

Administrator — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:45:35 GMT

The Making Data Meaningful guides are intended as a practical tool to help managers, statisticians and media relations officers in statistical organizations use text, tables, charts, maps and other devices to bring statistics to life for non-statisticians.

Part 1: A guide to writing stories about numbers
The first guide provides guidelines and examples on the use of effective writing techniques to make data meaningful.

Part 2: A guide to presenting statistics
The second guide provides guidelines and examples on preparing effective tables, charts and maps, and using other forms of visualizations to make data meaningful. It also offers advice on how to avoid bad or misleading visual presentations.

Part 3: A guide to communicating with the media
The third guide aims to help producers of statistics find the best way to get their message across and to communicate effectively with the media. It contains suggestions, guidelines and examples.

Custodian: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - UNECE

Using Administrative and Secondary Sources for Official Statistics: A Handbook of Principles and Practices

Administrator — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:33:40 GMT

Statistical organisations around the world are coming under increasing pressure to improve the efficiency of the statistical production process, and particularly to make savings in costs and staff resources. At the same time, there are growing political demands to reduce the burden placed on the respondents to statistical surveys. This is particularly the case where respondents are businesses, as many governments see reducing bureaucracy as a key measure to support and promote business development.

Given these pressures, statisticians are increasingly being forced to consider alternatives to the traditional survey approach as a way of gathering data. Perhaps the most obvious answer is to see if usable data already exist elsewhere. Many nonstatistical organisations collect data in various forms, and although these data are rarely direct substitutes for those collected via statistical surveys, they often offer possibilities, sometimes through the combination of multiple sources, to replace, fully or partially, direct statistical data collection.

Administrative sources have traditionally been defined as collections of data held by other parts of government, collected and used for the purposes of administering taxes, benefits or services. Perhaps the most comprehensive of the traditional definitions was set out by Gordon Brackstone of Statistics Canada in his 1987 paper “Statistical Issues of Administrative Data: Issues and Challenges” [1]. Brackstone identified four distinguishing features of administrative data:

1. The agent that supplies the data to the statistical agency and the unit to which the data relate are different (in contrast to most statistical surveys);
2. The data were originally collected for a definite non-statistical purpose that might affect the treatment of the source unit;
3. Complete coverage of the target population is the aim;
4. Control of the methods by which the administrative data are collected and processed rests with the administrative agency.

The degree of use of administrative sources in the statistical production process varies considerably from country to country, from those that have developed fully functioning register-based statistical systems, to those that are just starting to consider this approach. Although several subject specific texts exist, there have, until now, been no general, international methodological guidelines to help those in the early stages of using administrative data. This handbook aims to fill that gap. It builds on material developed over ten years in the context of an international training course on the use of administrative sources for statistical purposes. That course had at the time of publication of this handbook been delivered over ten times, to audiences of official statisticians from throughout Europe, Western and Central Asia, and North Africa. Each of these times that the course had been run, it had been improved and enhanced by sharing experiences with, and receiving feedback from participants. It has also benefited greatly from the input of various expert guest presenters from Statistics Finland and the British Office for National Statistics.

Custodian: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - UNECE

[1] Brackstone G J: "Statistical Issues of Administrative Data: Issues and Challenges", in "Statistical Uses of Administrative Data -An International Symposium", organised by Statistics Canada, 23-25 November 1987 (Proceedings published by Statistics Canada, Ottawa, December 1988).

Practical Guide to Seasonal Adjustment with Demetra+

Administrator — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:16:03 GMT

This practical guide is the result of UNECE capacity‐building activities in economic statistics for the countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. It suggests an overall process for performing seasonal adjustment and explains the related concepts. It brings together international recommendations for producing high quality time series, performing seasonal adjustment and disseminating the results. The Guide aims to assist statistical offices of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia in producing economic statistics in a seasonally adjusted form, but it may also provide relevant insight into seasonal adjustment in general.

The guide draws on the international statistical recommendations and the work of Eurostat, ECB, OECD, UNSD and several national statistical offices and central banks on the methodology of short‐term statistics, seasonal adjustment and data dissemination. It consolidates the main recommendations to construct a comprehensive overview of the guidance with relevance to the quality of seasonal adjustment. The referenced international recommendations include, in particular, the ESS Guidelines on Seasonal Adjustment (Eurostat, 2009), the Demetra+ User Manual (Grudkowska, 2011), the International Recommendations for the Index of Industrial Production (UNSD, 2010), the Data and Metadata Reporting and Presentation Handbook (OECD, 2007) and Methodology of Short‐term Business Statistics (Eurostat, 2006).

Custodian: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - UNECE

Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics - Second Edition (2011)

Administrator — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:02:22 GMT

In 2008, the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) completed an in-depth review of statistics on income, living conditions and poverty. The importance of this work was reinforced by the release of the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission Report on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (2009), which includes recommendations about the need to focus on the household perspective and distributional aspects of economic well-being.

An outcome of the CES review was the formation of a small international Task Force to undertake a limited update of the Final Report and Recommendations of the Expert Group on Household Income Statistics (2001), commonly referred to as the Canberra Group Handbook. The purpose of the update was to incorporate new developments in the area of household income measurement and to expand the guidelines to take into account these new developments. The objective was to help achieve greater harmonisation of income concepts and measurement at the household level across countries.

The 2001 Canberra Group Handbook was the result of the work of an International Expert Group on Household Income Statistics, known as the 'Canberra Group', that was established in 1996 at the initiative of the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The initiative was in response to a growing awareness of the need to address the common conceptual, definitional and practical problems that national statistical offices faced in the area of household income distribution statistics.

The first edition of the handbook significantly advanced the available guidance on the production, dissemination and analysis of household income statistics and provided a significant reference point for national and international statistical agencies. It was also highly influential in the development of new international standards for micro level household income statistics, as set out in the resolution on standards for household income statistics adopted by the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in December 2003 (ILO, 2004).

In principle, there is no difference between the ICLS definition of household income and the concept of household income in the 2001 Canberra Group Handbook. The ICLS standard also follows, to a large extent, the definitional recommendations put forward by the first edition of the handbook. The only exceptions are in regard to the Value of unpaid domestic services and the Value of services from household consumer durables. These components were not included in the conceptual income definition of the first edition of the handbook, but listed as 'issues for the future'. In this second edition of the handbook the two components have been included in the conceptual definition to align with the 2004 ICLS standard.

The Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics, Second Edition (2011), provides a consolidated reference for those involved in producing, disseminating or analysing income distribution statistics. It reflects the current international standards, recommendations and best practice in household income measurement. It also contains updated and expanded information about country practices in this field of statistics and provides guidance on best practices for quality assurance and dissemination of these statistics.

Custodian: United nations Economic Commission for Europe - UN/ECE

Statistical Data Editing: Methods and Techniques Vols. 1 and 2

Administrator — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:29:01 GMT

This work focuses on enhancing harmonization of methods and concepts, and exchanging experience in issues related to data quality control at the collection phase.

Issues include editing and imputation of data originating from administrative sources and editing near source (e.g. editing by respondents).

The goal is to:

improve quality of statistical data produced within the national statistical offices
organise cooperation among experts on issues related to data editing and imputation, exchange of experience, harmonization of methods and concepts and development of new methods and techniques
produce methodological guides on data quality control, data editing and imputation

Vol. 1 (1994) - Data editing methods and techniques may significantly influence the quality of statistical data as well as the cost efficiency of statistical production. The aim of this publication is to assist National Statistical Offices in their efforts to improve and economize their data editing processes. Different methods and techniques can be used in the various stages of the data editing process; that is in survey management, data capture, data review and data adjustment. Questions as to what methods and techniques to use for data review and data adjustment, as well as the iterative character of these two steps, are often very sensitive. The publication, therefore, particularly focuses on these issues.

Vol. 2 (1997) - Volume 2 is the logical continuation of the first part of the series, which defined statistical data editing and presented associated methods and software, dealing with how to solve individual data editing tasks, focusing on efficient techniques for data editing operations and evaluating the whole process. The aim of the publication is to assist National Statistical Offices in their efforts to improve and economise data editing processes. The material was prepared in the framework of the project on Statistical Data Editing in the programme of work of the Conference of European Statisticians. It was reviewed at the work session on Statistical Data Editing in Athens (November, 1995) and compiled and edited by the Statistical Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. It represents an extensive voluntary effort on the part of the authors.

Custodian: UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE - UN/ECE

Statistical Data Editing: Impact on Data Quality

Administrator — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:14:48 GMT

Statistical Data Editing: Impact on Data Quality, is the third in the series of Statistical Data Editing publications produced by the participants of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) Work Sessions on Statistical Data Editing (SDE). While the first two volumes dealt with the topics of what is data editing and how is it performed, the principal focus of this volume is its impact on the quality of the outgoing estimates.

The aim of this publication is to assist National Statistical Offices in assessing the impact of the data editing process on data quality, that is, in assessing how well the process is working. It consists of a compilation of papers, either country practices or more general in nature, organized in Chapters and Sections by topic.

Custodian: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)

Essential SNA: Building the basics

Administrator — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:54:38 GMT

Within the framework of international cooperation, Eurostat is conducting a series of projects that aim at a successful implementation of the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA) in the Least Developed Countries, micro-states and other countries that have not yet implemented the SNA. This publication exhibits different practical tools and methods to deal with the implementation problems that are frequently found in the target countries. Likewise, it shows how to overcome problems such as valuation, data sources, data dissemination, etc. Before publication, the content has been tested on a sample of countries to improve its coverage, readability and relevance for target users.

Custodian: Eurostat

The Impact of Globalization on National Accounts

Administrator — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:50:00 GMT

Globalization, as now understood, is a centuries old phenomenon of growing interaction between national economies. In recent decades, the phenomenon has gained a new momentum, because of political developments and progress in information and communication technology. The traditional interrelations, e.g. in closely connected financial markets, have grown considerably. At the same time there has been a deepening of globalization through, for example, international value added chains. Increasingly production processes extend over the whole world. These developments have had a positive impact on worldwide income and productivity. However, the financial crisis, which started in the USA in 2007 and rapidly spread to other parts of the world, has revealed the major risks associated with the growing interconnectedness of national economies.

In April 2007, a UNECE-led Expert Group on the Impact of Globalization on National Accounts (GGNA) was established, following a decision of the Conference of European Statisticians (CES). The Group was organized jointly with the OECD and Eurostat. A framework of indicators for measuring the magnitude and pace of economic globalization had already been agreed, as a result of the work of a number of international organizations. However, little was known about its impact on the compilation of existing national statistics. There was a need to examine how globalization affects the compilation of economic statistics in general and national accounts in particular, and to outline the areas where further efforts are needed in order to maintain the quality of the data. Under its terms of reference, the objective of the GGNA was “to review the main distortions in the compilation of national accounts and related source statistics, as caused by globalization”. In doing so, the Group should “put forward proposals on how to deal with these distortions in order to improve the quality of national accounts”. This Guide “The Impact of Globalization on National Accounts” is the outcome of the work of the GGNA.

Custodian: UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE

Guide to producing national health accounts - WHO

Administrator — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:22:51 GMT

Guide to producing national health accounts - with special applications for low-income and middle-income countries

Technological advances, demographic transitions, rapidly changing patterns of morbidity and mortality, and the emergence of public health problems such as HIV/AIDS all call for a more efficient use of resources, and in many cases more resources. In a wide range of countries, health care is provided by a complex and shifting combination of government and private sector entities (both for profit and non-profit). In such an environment, policy-makers need reliable national information on the sources and uses of funds for health, preferably comparable across countries, in order to enhance health system performance.

National health accounts (NHA) help provide that information. They depict the current use of resources in the health system. If implemented on a regular basis, NHA can track health expenditure trends, an essential element in health care monitoring and evaluation. NHA methodology can also be used to make financial projections of a country’s health system requirements. Finally, they offer the possibility of comparing one country’s health system expenditures with those of other countries –– of particular value when setting performance objectives and benchmarks.

Custodian - WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Scanner data in the Swiss CPI: An alternative to price collection in the field

Administrator — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:22:09 GMT

"For the initial phase of the price collection using scanner data, the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) relied upon traditional survey and index calculation methods. This concerned in particular the calculation and weighting of the indices and the number of items in the sample. Scanner data were mainly used to replace the price collection carried out hitherto in the retail outlets. This enables many of the important advantages of scanner data to be achieved rapidly without having to take unnecessary risks or wait for long preliminary studies. In a second stage, alternative collection and calculation methods intended to make more of the improvement and rationalisation potential of scanner data will be tested."

Implementation of BPM6 - Singapore

Administrator — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:30:13 GMT

The Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS) compiles Singapore’s balance of payments (BOP), which summarises the economic transactions between Singapore residents and non-residents. Singapore’s BOP has been compiled in accordance with international standards set out in the Balance of Payments Manual, Fifth Edition (BPM5), first published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1993.

BPM5 has since been updated by the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, Sixth Edition (BPM6), which was released in 2009. Several important developments have occurred in the years following the publication of BPM5. These have necessitated changes to the methodological framework for the compilation of the BOP. BPM6 takes into account economic developments associated with globalisation, financial and technological innovations, as well as the increasing emphasis on the use of the balance sheet in examining vulnerabilities. In addition, BPM6 has been revised and updated in parallel with the 2008 United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA08) to enhance the consistency between international accounts and national accounts, strengthening the integration of both sets of macroeconomic statistics.

Custodian: Department of Statistics of Singapore

Singapore Standard Industrial Classification (SSIC) 2010

Administrator — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:25:06 GMT

The Singapore Standard Industrial Classification (SSIC) provides the basic framework for the classification of economic activities. The Singapore Department of Statistics has implemented SSIC 2010 in the National Accounts. Macro‐economic statistics will be compiled and provided in accordance with SSIC 2010 with effect from the Annual Economic Survey of Singapore 2011.

Custodian: Department of Statistics of Singapore

Slovenian Gross National Income inventory

Administrator — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:17:33 GMT

The content of this publication from the Special publications series is an inventory of sources and methods of gross national income compilation that has been drafted according to the requirements of the Council Regulation No 1287/2003 which demands that Member States provide the European Commission (Eurostat) with an inventory of the procedures and basic statistics used to calculate gross national income and its components according to European System of Accounts 1995.

Custodian: The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia

Regional accounts inventory - Slovenia

Administrator — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:14:37 GMT

Regional accounts are part of the European System of Accounts (ESA 95). With national accounts they share the concepts of calculating statistical indicators which are used by competent organizations to assess the economic situation and to make appropriate decisions. Regional accounts data support decision-making at the level of regional policy, the purpose of which is to reduce social and economic disparities among the EU Member States and their regions. Welfare and economic development potential of regions can vary; therefore, well-balanced regional policy, the basis of which is the territorial regulation, is necessary for reducing the disparities.

Custodian: The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia

Inventory of sources and methods for price and volume measures in national Accounts - Slovenia

Administrator — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:08:47 GMT

The main purpose of the compilation of national accounts aggregates at constant prices, i.e. the compilation of price and volume measures, is to provide indicators of economic activity from which the effect of price changes has been removed. This enables the analysis of the growth and development of an economy, the recording and analysis of cyclical movements and the drawing up of projections for the future. Volume indices of main national accounts aggregates are among the most important macroeconomic aggregates and essential for the assessment of past economic developments and for the drawing up economic policies.

Custodian: The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia

GNI inventory - Italy

Administrator — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:45:43 GMT

The compilation of National Accounts is a complex process built up to meet the need for an ever more complete representation of national economies and, at the same time, to the need for an estimate of Gross National Product (GNP) as harmonized as possible across EU. The publication of the inventory offers to all the users of macroeconomic data the opportunity of delving into estimation methods of GNP and its components following the three approaches of production, income and expenditure, into procedures aimed at assuring the exhaustiveness of the estimates, into techniques ensuring the consistency of estimates obtained using independent approaches, and into the sources and the classifications actually adopted. Methods, sources and classifications presented here have been employed for the general revision of estimates which, assuming year 2000 as a benchmark, have been compiled and issued by Istat from December 2005.

Custodian: ISTAT - ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI STATISTICA (Italy)

Business Activity Survey (BAS) - Timor‐Leste

Administrator — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:37:35 GMT

This is the first ever Business Activity Survey (BAS) in Timor‐Leste, constituting an important landmark in the understanding of the development of the country's business sector. The results of the BAS give the Government a clear picture of the performance and composition of the nonpetroleum business sector and the size of its contribution to the national economy and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Business Activity Survey comprises a sample of 1,220 out of approximately 4,260 businesses of the kind considered in this study. These non‐petroleum producing businesses are spread out across the country and mainly located in the major towns of each district. The BAS includes all public and private financial enterprises (banks and insurance companies) as well as all public and private non‐financial businesses, with a few major exceptions: general government agencies (administration, health, education etc) and agricultural production and other informal economic activities conducted by households. So‐called not‐for‐profit institutions (NGOs, charities, churches etc) were surveyed only if they earned more than 50 per cent of their incomes in 2010 from trading activities. Estimates of the economic contribution of subsistence farming and other informal economic activities can be made based on data previously collected in household surveys.

Custodian: Direcção Nacional de Estatística - Timor-Leste

Impact Assessment Revised ESA - The Netherlands

Administrator — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:22:58 GMT

This paper gives a short description of all the issues and new recommendations of the 2008 SNA/new ESA and their potential effect on the Dutch GDP/GNI. The recommendations which truly affect GDP/GNI are discussed more extensively and their impact is quantified as good as is currently possible. It should be mentioned explicitly here that the impact estimations are provisional. The final figures will only become available in 2014.

Custodian: Statistics Netherlands, National accounts department

Report on Hong Kong Trade in Services Statistics for 2009

Administrator — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:55:32 GMT

This publication presents annual trade in services statistics which help reader perform in-depth analysis on Hong Kong's external trade in services. It contains statistics on exports, imports and net exports of services with detailed breakdowns by type of services and destination/source for recent years. In the light of rapid development in “offshore trade”, statistics on exports of services relating to “offshore trade” are also published as supplementary statistics in this publication.

Custodian: Census and Statistics Department Hong Kong, SAR China

Custodian: Census and Statistics Department Hong Kong, SAR China

The Situation of the Four Key Industries in the Hong Kong Economy

Administrator — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:48:37 GMT

Financial services, trading and logistics, tourism, and producer and professional services are the Four Key Industries in the Hong Kong economy. They have been the driving force of Hong Kong's economic growth, providing impetus to growth of other sectors, and creating employment. This article analyses statistics showing the economic contribution and employment situation in respect of the Four Key Industries.

Custodian: Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Tourism Satellite Account for Inbound Tourism of Hong Kong

Administrator — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:34:13 GMT

This article gives a detailed description on the concepts and definitions of the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for inbound tourism in Hong Kong. Data sources and methods for compiling the TSA are also covered. Besides, it describes the major results of past few years.

Custodian: Census and Statistics Department Hong Kong, SAR China

Quarterly Producer Price Index for Industrial Sector

Administrator — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:20:57 GMT

This report gives a detailed description on the concepts and definitions of quarterly producer price indices for manufacturing sector in Hong Kong. Sample design, data collection and processing for compiling quarterly producer price indices are also covered. Besides, it provides quarterly producer price indices of past few years.

Custodian: Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Annual Report on the Consumer Price Index

Administrator — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:03:40 GMT

This annual publication provides a detailed analysis of the major price movements of consumer goods and services during the reference year. This is useful for understanding the inflation that affects consumers. For each of the four series of Consumer Price Index (CPI), namely the Composite CPI, CPI(A), CPI(B) and CPI(C), the movements of the all-item indices and the indices of the 9 commodity/service sections are analysed. This publication also contains charts which depict the movements of the CPIs, tables on the seasonally adjusted CPIs, and descriptions of the concepts and computation method of the CPIs. In particular, this report gives a brief account of the source of data (including survey data and administrative data) as well as the CPI computation framework at Appendix III, IV and V.

Custodian: Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Hong Kong Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Administrator — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:44:06 GMT

This publication gives a detailed description on the concepts and definitions of the GDP and GNP in Hong Kong. Data sources and methods for compiling the GDP by expenditure approach and production approach as well as GNP are also covered. Besides, it contains annual and quarterly series of GDP and GNP at current prices and in chain volume terms.

Custodian: Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Hong Kong External Merchandise Trade Statistics - Dissemination

Administrator — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:34:59 GMT

The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) disseminates external merchandise trade statistics through various means, including press release, trade publications (print version and free download version), statistical tables at C&SD’s website, self-service at the Service Centre on Trade Statistics and a CD-ROM product produced in collaboration with a private company. Details can be found at the following website: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/corner_on_trade_matters/trade_and_cargo_statistics/index.jsp

This publication provides the most up-to-date trade in goods figures on a monthly basis. It is useful for short-term analysis on Hong Kong's trade performance. It contains summary tables of monthly and year-to-date figures for external merchandise trade with breakdowns by Standard International Trade Classification (Revision 4) commodity groups and/or country/territory and/or mode of transport.

Custodian: Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region