Page 471 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS355 Jean-Louis B.
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participated in the activities and life of our Institute since its 37 session held
in London in 1969 and has contributed more or less actively to all our
congresses since the 40 session held in Warsaw in 1975. We are in 2019 and
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the years ending in 9 have all been especially important for the author: 2019
is the fiftieth anniversary of his first participation in a session of the ISI, the
fortieth anniversary of his election as an elected member of the ISI, the thirtieth
anniversary of the beginning of his term as IAOS President and the twentieth
anniversary of the beginning of his term as President of the ISI.
This paper mostly focuses on role of ISI in the domain of official statistics.
It will first describe the main events that occurred during the historical
relations between official statistics and ISI until 1969. Then it will present some
issues that have marked the life of the ISI for the past five decades in the
domain of official statistics.

2. A brief history of the ISI and its relations with official statistics [1] [2]
[3]:
The ISI was formally established in June 1885 during the Jubilee of the
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Statistical Society of London and the 25 anniversary of the Paris Statistical
Society with the participation of about twenty countries, almost all European
and North-American. Prof. Franz von Neumann-Spallart (Austria) presented on
this occasion a paper sketching a plan for an international statistical
association. But in fact this creation was only a logical continuation of the
holding of the nine International Statistical Congresses (ISC) organized
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between 1853 and 1876 in European cities. The first of these conferences was
held in Brussels following an initiative taken by Adolphe Quételet (Belgium)
and Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, during the Universal Exhibition
organized in London two years earlier. When ISC and ISI were created, most
of their objectives were oriented towards what is called today official statistics:
international comparisons, development of classifications, population
censuses... In his opening address of the 4 ISC held in London in 1860 Prince
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Albert stated that “these congresses pave the way to an agreement among
different governments and nations to follow up common inquiries, in a

2 The name of the World Statistical Congresses of the ISI were “ISI Sessions” until the revision
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of the Statutes adopted during the 58 ISI session held in Dublin in 2011. The 59 ISI session
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held in Hong-Kong in 2013 was therefore the first WSC of the new era.
3 The 37 ISI Session was inaugurated by Sir Harold Wilson, UK Prime Minister. During his
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speech, he reminded that he was Director of Economics and Statistics at the Ministry of Fuel
and Power in 1943–1944 before his first election at the Commons (1946). Later, he was elected
as the President of the Royal Statistical Society (1972-73).
4 No congress was organized between 1876 and 1885 because Germany and Prussia, which
were not happy with the way in which the Permanent Commission of the ISC managed them,
refused to participate in any international statistical conference. That was probably more a
political disagreement than a technical one.
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