Official statistics

Official statistics is all the statistics by official institutions, in particular the statistical offices, created, in particular, population statistics and economic statistics.

History

Originally, that in ancient times, " official statistics " by governments for their own use and for specific purposes (eg for the preparation of an army or the construction of a large building (pyramid, channel) or generally as a basis for were control surveys) created. Because of pottery shards can be demonstrated already for the time around 3800 BC in ancient Babylon, a census. Between 3000-2000 BC (depending on source) existed in Egypt and China Census and asset surveys. In ancient Athens there was next censuses also have permanent records of cereal imports, inventories of dutiable goods and Others In the Roman Empire BC were carried out every 5 years population surveys since the 6th century. At the time of the Emperor Augustus is said to have given a statistical sourcebook with a home-built by the Emperor series of tables.

In the Middle Ages divisions of areas have been established within the city walls, which were used as a spatial reference for statistical purposes. In the imperial city of Nuremberg, for example, these were eight neighborhoods that were divided into lanes main teams. End of the 16th century there were 131 of them with a fixed numbering ( 1-63 on the Sebalder and 1-68 on the Lorenzer city page ). The main streets people had to be collected as statistical function is the population information, via " Unbürger " about " orphaned daughters of citizens with self-owned " and on the citizens' sons who became 14 years old. Both the state it was in the Middle Ages hardly any systematic statistical surveys. Only with the rise of absolutism and the introduction of mercantilist economic policy arose again the demand for statistics as a tool for centralized management of the economy. Support the mercantilist economic policy was the " University Statistics", which attempted to describe all possible "state of interest " as accurately as possible quality. In contrast, tried about the same time the representatives of capture all social relations on the model of natural science "political arithmetic " quantitatively.

The results of statistical surveys remained until the 18th century within the state administration, because they were regarded as secret, to be protected from competing states information. This confidentiality policy loosened only with the spread of Enlightenment ideas and the development of a bourgeois publicist public.

Starting with the 18th century took place in the 19th century, a significant extension and especially the institutionalization of official statistics. In Germany formed in the various countries statistical offices, for statistical work made in 1834 the German Zollverein. With the founding of the German Empire and the Imperial Statistical Office as a statistical central office was established in 1872. In the Third Reich the repeal of the sovereignty of the countries decentralized statistical offices in favor of the Reich Statistical Office, but that had to leave later because of the war economy and management tasks to other offices, in turn, was made.

With the changing societies to democracies in the modern era also changed the self-understanding of official statistics. It was transformed into a publicly available tool that provides the information necessary for the political decision-making in society statistical information. In addition, it acts as a data provider for science and further as a tool for political and economic planning.

Legal framework

Since the official statistics in many areas engaged in the freedom of informational self-determination of individuals and companies ( especially in information requirements ) and a misuse of data is possible, the legal framework has been created for official statistics, in particular, applies statistical confidentiality.

Europe

With the progressive integration in the European Union come more and more legal requirements for official statistics of Member States from there. Central Office is Eurostat in Luxembourg.

Germany

As part of the public administration is the official statistics on the legal rules for administrative action bound (Article 20 § 3 of the Basic Law). The federal government has the exclusive power to legislate for the statistics for federal purposes (Art. 73 No. 11 GG), the implementation of the statistics, however, is in principle a matter for the Länder (Art. 83 GG). In addition, countries can arrange own country statistics.

Due to the federal structure, the municipalities are in Germany (unlike in most other states) responsible for innergebietliche statistics, which is why there is a separate statistical office for the tasks of local statistics, especially in large cities.

All carried out by the official statistics surveys are arranged by law. For the Federal Statistics in Germany, the Law on Statistics for Federal Purposes ( Federal Statistics Act ) is virtually the "Basic Law ". It is supplemented by country statistics Acts of the Länder. These include the Federal Statistics Law comparable regulations for the country's statistics and the organization of the statistical offices of the Länder. In addition, there are well over 100 other legal bases governing the specific issues to individual statistics. The tasks of local statistics are usually governed by a municipal statistics statutes.

In Germany, the journal of economics and statistics appears.

Austria

The legal basis is the Federal Statistics Act 2000.

Switzerland

It is based on Article 65 of the Federal Constitution and the Federal Law of 9 October 1992. The individual statistical surveys are listed in the statistics collection ordinance.

See Federal Statistical Office

France

Institut national de la statistique see et des études économiques ( INSEE )

Institutional organization

To ensure the achievement of objectives, it is important that official statistics can perform their duties on a scientific basis and free of political influence. Of ensuring a statistics professional concentration is in general ( all statistics in an independent institution summarized ) and considered a state-guaranteed financial budget as appropriate.

Available Statistics

To the following areas of official statistics are generally available:

Environment ( geography, environmental pollution )
Demographics ( age structure, births, deaths, hiking, marriages )
Work ( employment, income, unemployment)
Economy ( cyclical and structural data for various sectors of the economy )
Tourism (accommodation, number of beds, and others): Tourism Statistics
Politics and Public Administration ( Elections, Public revenue and expenditure, Public Services )
Households ( Staff composition, income and expenditure, assets, time budget utilization, housing, health )
Price statistics, external trade statistics, national accounts

Methodological

Official statistics should be understood as a tool for political decision-making in society. Thus, their results - and not official statistics itself or the process of creating their statistics - the subject of this decision-making process, they are forced to put their work on a scientific basis and be fully documented. Also, the methods used must be generally recognized. This means that priority only simple descriptive statistics methods, in particular the determination of mean values and the compilation are applied to tables or thematic maps in the official statistics. The data are aggregated professional (for example, in age classes) and spatially ( in the statistical spatial reference units).

Classical antiquity Table (information) Absolute monarchy German Reich Democracy States of Germany

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