Commemoration of the 60th
anniversary of the UN Statistical
Commission
Ivan P. Fellegi
Chief Statistician of Canada
February 26, 2007
Introduction
• Why have been asked to talk?
• What have I learned from many years of
attending?
• I will give a very subjective view of what I
regard as:
– positive developments
– negative developments (or at least lack of
progress)
– the way forward
Positive developments (1)
I am talking about the UNSC, not the world
statistical system!
• Adaptation to the relative loss of conceptual
leadership capacity of UNSD
– city groups
– Inter-agency secretariats with IMF, OECD , Eurostat,
etc.
• Increased overall attendance – indicating
greater prestige(?); but risk to meaningful indepth interactions
Positive developments (2)
• Much greater attendance of heads of
developing country statistical offices
• Approval of important standards (but
mostly in the area of economic statistics
and even there relatively few)
• Annual, as opposed to biennial meetings –
indicating seriousness of purpose
• Improved organisation: agenda, papers,
timetable, etc.
Positive developments (3)
• Inter-secretariat working groups a very
mixed bag:
– Most instances of inter-agency cooperation
are essential
– Inter-agency cooperation in national accounts
outstanding. Also best example of adaptation
– But, while some would earn an “excellent”
mark, the majority would not get more than a
“passing” grade
Positive developments (4)
• An instance of successful assertion of
professional authority
– We successfully challenged the methodology
used in compiling one of the high visibility
reports issued by the UN system;
– We were successful in getting it changed in
the face of strong initial opposition;
– But there are too few instances.
Some negatives (1)
• Too little involvement in the development
of social statistics
• No equivalent of inter-agency work on
national accounts – while many city
groups do excellent work, the driving force
is often missing
• No inter-agency capacity to coordinate
international household survey initiatives
in spite of joint interest in measuring living
conditions in developing countries
Some negatives (2)
• Death of NHSCP – a very negative
development
• Insufficient attention to capacity building,
particularly in household surveys (the new
International Household Survey Network
but a pale shadow of NHSCP)
• Creeping politicization:
– even among NSO heads; and
– far too many instances of permanent missions
(non-statisticians) addressing UNSC – which
was, is and should be a purely professional
body
What is unchanged
• With rare exceptions, we don’t set crisp
and realistic goals
• Partly as a consequence, our discussions
and documents are too bland
• When we do set goals, they tend to be far
too sweeping, hence not realistic;
• Partly as result, we have no consistent
follow-up practices
The balance?
• The overall mandate of the UNSC is to
coordinate the world statistical system
• But:
– Is there a world statistical system?
– Can it be effectively coordinated?
– Not on current evidence
• Coordination would not earn more than barely
passing mark – in spite of great dedication and
excellent work of the participating national and
international organisations
• The same about national capacity building
The way forward (1)
• we have very little formal authority, but a
great deal of professional authority – we
need to use it more
– Who can put up a credible professional
argument in the face of the considered
opinion of the combined heads of the world’s
national statistical offices?
• However, authority erodes if it is not used!
The way forward (2)
• Professional authority gets irremediably
diluted if seen to be wielded for political
reasons.
• Whereas we have no political influence,
authority or standing,
• our opinions have an unchallengeable
professional authority!
The way forward (3)
• So we need to be more ready than in the
past to assert our professional authority;
• In doing so we should be both fearless
and thorough
– when it concerns the quality of international
statistical work (e.g. the quality of the MDG
indicators)
– in the coordination of international statistical
survey work
– in the development and propagation of best
professional practices
The way forward (4)
• While standards might be too ambitious
(and perhaps unnecessary) in many areas
of social statistics, we should be
aggressive in developing conceptual
frameworks
• We definitely need to be more evidence
based in the area of national capacity
building: currently we regularly fail to meet
the unrealistic goals we set for ourselves
The way forward (5)
• First and foremost:
At all costs avoid
politicisation
• It seriously detracts from our professional
standing – the only one we have.