Annex 3 - Evolution of Usage of Terms in the Handbook Series

1954 Handbook

Official Statistics	The term is used throughout the handbook but never specifically defined. The usage seems to refer to the products (statistical data series) of government agencies.First instance of use: “The expansion in the non-statistical functions of government is an important factor in the recent growth of official statistics.”
National Statistical System	Explicitly defined in introduction of Chapter 3- Types of Statistical Systems.First instance of use: “The term statistical system is used here to include the full range of national official statistical activities. This includes such bodies as the major statistical operating offices; the specialized statistical offices which may exist in departments or ministries of the government concerned with special subject-matter fields; the statistical functions of provinces, states, cities or other political sub­divisions in so far as they are a part of or contribute to the national statistical result; and the official committees, or boards, that have responsibilities related to the national statistical activities - in brief, the national statistical system in its entirety.”
National Statistical Office	The term is used once.Only instance of use (in Chapter 3-Types of statistical systems) - statistical system with one department responsible for statistics: “Finally, a single national statistical office has certain advantages in obtaining general recognition as an impartial producer of objective data and becomes known as a single source to which official bodies and the public can go for data in all fields.”

1980 Handbook

Official Statistics	Official statistics is defined in section B of the Introduction chapter, as follows:“The term “official statistics” denotes the statistics provided by a national statistical service to others. It does not include statistics a government agency produces for its own use only and that have no interest or are not accessible to others.”
National Statistical System	The term is used once—under the topic ‘organization of internal and interagency integration and coordination’— “if a national statistical system is decentralized, it is essential to establish a strong central co-ordinating body to promote the integration of statistics and co-ordination of activities.”Instead, the term national statistical service is used and defined as follows: “The term “national statistical service”, as used in the Handbook, refers to the totality of units of the central government engaged in statistical work. The term “statistical agency” refers to the individual units of the service. Sometimes the term “central statistical office” is used to denote the main statistical agency of a centralized statistical service.”
National Statistical Office	The term is used once—in the context of a central statistical agency as defined as part of the national statistical service as opposed to sub-national statistical offices.Only instance of use: “In many countries the national statistical service has its own local offices covering the entire country or parts of the country. As a rule, these offices collect micro-data and may perform some additional functions, such as coding, editing and dissemination of the statistics, while the remaining functions are left to the national statistical office. In some countries, the local offices also produce statistics for their own areas.”

2003 Handbook

Official Statistics	The term is used throughout the handbook but never specifically defined. The implied definition is the concept referred to in the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.First instance of use: In the Introduction—The two main intended audiences of the Handbook … are (a) the chief statistician (or soon to be chief statistician of a statistical agency) …; and (b) those charged with oversight of the official statistics function.”
National Statistical System	Although there is a whole chapter on “II-The statistical system”. The term is not specifically defined. The term ‘national statistical system’ appears three times; ‘statistical system’ is mainly used throughout the document. Through the context in which the terms are used, it refers to a group of agencies responsible for producing “official statistics”—much in line with the definition in the 1980 Handbook of a national statistical service. The discussion is mainly on centralized vs decentralized systems.
National Statistical Office	The term “national statistical office” is generally used to refer to a statistical agency whose core functions make it responsible for a large slice of official statistics as well as a coordination function in relation to statistical systems.