2.2 The international dimension

In the international arena, official statistics are unique in the sense that, starting from the early 1990s, most countries of the world have come to recognise and abide by specific ground rules for official statistics and how they are to be conducted. These rules are set out in the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (UNFPOS). These were originally developed by the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) at the beginning of the 1990s. They were adopted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in 1992, by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) in 1994, by the UN Economic and Social Commission in 2013, and the UN General Assembly in 2014.

International statistical cooperation, however, has a much longer history. That history started in Europe in the 1850s when statisticians from a few European countries started to meet at conferences discussing statistical methods and standards. This cooperation was cemented with the establishment of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) in 1885. The ISI was and is a society of professional statisticians, many of whom were and are leaders in statistical activities and methodological development in their countries. The European conferences in the 1850s and the ISI itself from 1885 became the main forum for the international statistical cooperation until the First World War disrupted it. After the War, government cooperation in official statistics was formalised under the auspices of the League of Nations with the first inter-governmental conference being held in 1929. After the founding of the United Nations, the international statistical cooperation became the responsibility of the UN, centred in the UN Statistical Commission (founded in 1946, first convened in 1947).

Thus, modern official statistics are the outcome of a long-standing and close international cooperation and consultation on statistical methods, standards, procedures and practices. This cooperation continues unabated and is carried out in different fora all over the world.