Page 40 - Contributed Paper Session (CPS) - Volume 4

CPS2111 Grant J. Cameron et al.

1
Measuring the statistical capacity of nations
Grant J. Cameron, Hai-Anh H. Dang, Mustafa Dinc, James Foster, Michael M.
Lokshin
World Bank

Abstract
The international development community has used the World Bank’s
Statistical Capacity Index since its inception in 2004. The Sustainable
Development Goals create new challenges for national statistical systems to
produce high-quality and internationally comparable data. We review
measurement methodologies, posits desired attributes, and presents
theoretical and empirical frameworks for the new, improved index to monitor
progress in the statistical capacity of nations. We illustrate the properties of
the updated index with global data from 2016.

Keywords
statistical capacity; statistical indicators; statistical index; national statistical
system; data

1. Introduction
The national statistical system, or NSS, plays a crucial role in modern
economies. It provides stakeholders, ranging from policy makers to stock
market analysts and the general public, with the latest data on the country’s
socio-economic developments. At the international level, monitoring progress
on global undertakings such as the recently established Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) requires high-quality data that must be produced
consistently across different national statistical systems. Assessing and
improving the capacity of a country’s NSS has long been a part of the global
st
agenda. The international Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21
Century (PARIS21) Task Team was established in 2002 to help measure
country statistical capacity. Over the subsequent years, a few capacity
assessment tools have been developed to identify the weaknesses and
2
strengths of national statistical systems .

1 This is a shortened version of a paper of the same title, Cameron et al. (2019) which is World Bank Policy
Research Working Paper no. 8693.
2 Statistical capacity is usually interpreted as the ability of an NSS to meet user needs for relevant and good
quality statistics in a timely manner. An NSS often consists of a number of different data-producing
agencies and departments (such as the national statistical office, the central bank, and statistical
departments within other line ministries), which renders the task of directly measuring statistical capacity
a difficult one.
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