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Official statistics are statistics published by government agencies or other public bodies such as international organizations. They provide quantitative or qualitative information on all major areas of citizens' lives, such as economic and social development,〔United Nations. "Economic and development statistics" http://www.un.org/esa/progareas/stats.html〕 living conditions,〔Eurostat-"Comparative EU-Statistics on Income and Living Conditions: Issues and Challenges" http://www.stat.fi/eusilc/index_en.html〕 health,〔World Health Organization. "World Health Statistics 2008". http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/2008/en/index.html〕 education,〔UNESCO. "Global Education Digest 2007". http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev.php?ID=7167_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC〕 and the environment.〔United Nations Statistical Commission. "Environment statistics" http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/stacom_archive/brochures/for%20web/Brochure%20-%20Environment.pdf〕 During the 16th and 17th centuries, statistics were a method for counting and listing populations and State resources. The term ''statistics'' comes from the New Latin ''statisticum collegium'' (council of state) and refers to ''science of the state''. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, official statistics are statistics disseminated by the national statistical system, excepting those that are explicitly not to be official".〔OECD. Online Glossary of Statistical Terms http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/index.htm〕 Of course, governmental agencies at all levels, including municipal, county, and state administrations, may generate and disseminate official statistics. This broader possibility is accommodated by later definitions. For example: :"Almost every country in the world has one or more government agencies (usually national institutes) that supply decision-makers and other users including the general public and the research community with a continuing flow of information (...). This bulk of data is usually called official statistics. Official statistics should be objective and easily accessible and produced on a continuing basis so that measurement of change is possible."〔Biemer, Paul and Lyberg Lars (2003).''Introduction to Survey Quality'', Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-19375-3〕 Official statistics result from the ''collection and processing of data'' into statistical information by a government institution or international organisation. They are then disseminated to help users develop their knowledge about a particular topic or geographical area, make comparisons between countries or understand changes over time. Official statistics make information on economic and social development accessible to the public, allowing the impact of government policies to be assessed, thus improving accountability. ==Aim== Official statistics provide a picture of a country or different phenomena through data, and images such as graph and maps. Statistical information covers different subject areas (economic, demographic, social etc.). It provides basic information for decision making, evaluations and assessments at different levels. The goal of statistical organizations is to produce relevant, objective and accurate〔See Point 3 in Assessment of the quality in statistics - Eurostat http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/2000/11/metis/crp.2.e.pdf〕 statistics to keep users well informed and assist good policy and decision-making. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Official statistics」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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