The organisation of official statistics in Saorstat Eireann and in some other countries

Abstract

In the complexity of modern life, governments and peoples require a vast and ever-increasing fund of measurable facts, or as they are called "statistics," for their work and weal. They require to know the size and distribution of the population, the resources of the country?agricultural, mineral and industrial?the wealth or taxable capacity, the volume and value of external and internal trade, the social statistics relating to health, unemployment and education, means of communication (rail, road, post and telephones)?and many other details of the economic, financial and social conditions of the people. That information is provided by the collection of (a) Statistics which arise directly out of the administrative functions of the several Departments of Government, and (b) other Statistics which are collected and compiled deliberately and purposely by a particular section of the Government administration?a Statistics Office, which in some countries is described as and fulfils the functions of a national laboratory for social and economic research. Both of these groups of statistics form "official statistics."