Page 312 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 2

STS496 Alphonse L.M.
Keywords
Official statistics; National statistical organisation; Technical and operational
independence; Codes of conduct; Ethical behaviour

1. Introduction
In pre-modern, pre-democratic times the administration of societies was
ruled by the will and whims of the “Sovereign”. Modern societies require valid
and reliable statistical information based on the principles of democracy,
transparency and accountability to function. Its production requires a national
statistical organisation with the necessary legal provisions to allow it to
function with technical and operational independence, free from
governmental and societal interference. The information required can, in many
cases, only be provided by the citizens, which they should do truthfully and as
complete as possible. Statistic laws should guarantee that such individual
information will be used for statistical purposes only. The statistics are
common goods and should be made available to all users without distinction.
The scientific basis of the profession requires that the statisticians are well
trained and adhere to the principles of science and apply established
methodologies. To assist them to correctly carry out their duties professional
and statistical organisations have issued codes of conducts which focus on
technical requirements and ethical behaviour. However, these codes have a
limited diffusion among statisticians.
Not all governments enacted legalisation to establish the technical and
operational independence of the national statistical offices. Even in cases were
legislation exists, occasionally government directly or indirectly, interfere with
the technical and operational independence of the statistical office. In the last
decades there have been cases were statisticians were accused of un-
professional and even criminal behaviour (Chile and Greece) and have been
disciplined, dismissed or taken to court. The international statistical
community has come to the defence of these colleagues with variable success.

2. Development of modern statistics
In Europe, since the Enlightenment individuals with an interest in the
advancement of knowledge of the society and science established “learned
societies” in which topics of scientific and societal interest were discussed and
numerical studies on population, social, economic and health phenomena
carried out. Parallel to the compilation of numerical information, in
mathematics new theories (probability, measurement and errors), methods
and techniques, were devised which provided the basis for the emerging
science of statistics. Given the political fragmentation of Europe and the great
variety in measures and weights early statistical compilation used a wide

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