Page 470 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS355 Jean-Louis B.

A view on 50 years of life of the ISI: (With a focus
on ISI relations with official statistics)
Jean-Louis BODIN
Statistical Consultant, Inspecteur Général de lNSEE Honoraire, Paris, France

Abstract
The author is an official statistician. The first ISI Congress he attended was the
37 Session in London in 1969 and he missed only two congresses during
th
these 50 years. The paper is based on his participation to the life of the ISI
during these 50 years and mostly focuses on its role in the domain of official
statistics.
th
When ISI was created at the end of the 19 century, most of its objectives were
oriented towards what is called today official statistics: international
comparisons, development of classifications, population censuses. This role
played by ISI changed when the League of Nations (SDN) was created in 1920
and especially after the creation of the United Nations in 1946, when a
statistical division was created at the UN Headquarters. So ISI had to find
specific ways to continue to have official statisticians as members. The paper
will present some issues that have marked the life of the ISI for the past few
decades:

· Creation of some sections (now associations) dealing with some
aspects of official statistics: IASS in 1973 (surveys), IAOS in 1985 and
Irving Fisher Committee in 1997 (central banks statistics)
· Declaration on professional ethics in 1985 and creation of the Advisory
Board on Ethics in 2010. Defense of the integrity of statistics.
· Contribution of the ISI to drafting the UN Declaration on Fundamental
Principles of Official Statistics in 1991.
· Strengthening statistical capacities in developing countries.
· Role of statistics in the Data Revolution

Keywords
History; official statistics; professional ethics; strengthening capacities

1. Introduction
This paper does not claim to be a history of statistics, nor even a detailed
history of ISI. It is only the testimony of an official statistician who has
1

1 See some historical references at the end of the paper [1] [2] [3]

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