The World Statistics Day aims to show that good data and statistics are indispensable for informed decision-making by all actors in society. The United Nations event is celebrated on October 20 every five years.The resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly on June 3, 2015. The main purpose of celebrating this day is to raise awareness about the contributions of statisticians and promote the use of data for informed decision-making globally. The first celebration took place in 2010. Statistics is a way of collecting, analyzing, interpreting, presenting, and organizing data. The main 5 Statistical Analysis Methods for Research are (i) Mean: The mean, often referred to as the average, is a fundamental statistical technique used to conduct statistical analysis. (ii) Standard Deviation. Not all data points will fall exactly at the mean. (iii) Regression(iv) Hypothesis Testing and (v) Sample Size Determination. Applying statistics to larger groups of data gives a general overview of issues, including scientific, industrial, or social problems.The UN stresses that reliable and timely statistics and indicators are more important than ever:”On this World Statistics Day, I urge all partners and stakeholders to work together to ensure that the necessary investments are made, adequate technical capacity is built, new data sources are explored and innovative processes are applied to give all countries the comprehensive information systems they need to achieve sustainable development,” stated Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General before the UN event in 2015. What’s more fascinating is that the date of the celebration differs in every country depending on their statistical significance and history. As of 2010, 103 countries observe a national statistics day, including 51 African countries that celebrate African statistics day on November 18. India celebrates its National Statistics Day on 29 June, the birthday of the legendary Statistician professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, the founder of Indian National Statistical System. The first Indian National Statistics Day was celebrated on 29 June, 2007 and since then it is celebrated annually in India on the same date. The Royal Statistical Society in the UK also launched its gestate Statistical Literacy Campaign on 20-10-2010. National Statistics Day serves as an opportunity to recognize and pay tribute to the unique contributions of statisticians to the nation’s progress. For 2024, the theme chosen was “Use of Data for Decision Making,” focusing on the impact of statistics in driving sustainable development and innovation across various sectors. The United Nations Statistical Commission (STATCOM) the highest body of the global Statistical system meets every year and submits a report on each session to the Economic and Social Council annually is a functional Commission of UN Economic and Social council and was established in 1947 overseas the work of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). The United Nations Statistical Commission consists of 24 member countries of the United Nations elected by the United Nations Economic and Social Council on the basis of an equitable geographical distribution according to the following pattern: African States(5), Asian States(4), Eastern European States(4), Latin American and Caribbean States(4), Western European and other states (7). The term of office Members is four years. It bringing together the chief Statisticians from member states from around the world.dd It is the highest decision making body for international Statistical activities, responsible for setting up of statistical standards and the development of concepts and methods, including their implementation at the national and international level. The United Nations Statistical Commission has created international methodological standards and guidelines in virtually every area of statistics. It has played a key role in helping governments strengthen their statistical reporting, making data more available and comparable across countries and regions than even before. Statistics permeate modern life are vital tool for economic and social development, including our efforts to achieve sustainable development Goals 2030. Good data and statistics are indispensable for informed decision-making by all actors in the society. It is also required for effective Disaster Management and emergency services as countries and organisations embark on implementing the ambitious 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, reliable and timely statistics and indicators are more important than ever. Statistics are crucial to economic and social development as they generate healthy public debate and contribute to the progress of nations. Statistics serve everyone and are indispensable to academic research and the development of the business and the civil society. The fundamental importance of Statistics has never had a stronger recognition than it is receiving today. However, an in depth look at the process of development over the years reveals that there is lack of good academic research and collection of high quality data for research in the economy, society, demography, environment, National Resources Management, Climate change and many other developmental challenges confronting the developing economies of the world. The basic forms of statistics have been used since the beginning of civilization. In ancient times, Statistic has been called “science of king” as it was mainly used by kings to collect information about their kingdom and the people in it (similar to the government today). It may be said to have its origin in census counts taken thousands of years ago; as a distinct scientific discipline, however, it was developed in the early 19th century as the study of populations, economies, and moral actions and later in that century as the mathematical tool for analyzing such numbers. The word statistics comes from the modern Latin phrase statisticum collegium (lecture about state affairs), which gave rise to the Italian word statista (statesman or politician — compare to status) and the German Statistik (originally the analysis of data about the state). Statistics is a mathematical body of science that pertains to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data, or as a branch of mathematics.
“Statistics is a foundational component of modern computer science. It provides the tools and techniques necessary for understanding and making sense of data. In computer science, statistics are used to design experiments, analyze data, and make informed decisions. Further, Statistical analysis is a scientific tool in AI and ML that helps collect and analyze large amounts of data to identify common patterns and trends to convert them into meaningful information.We need local statistics to ensure that every child has access to education and we need global statistics to monitor the overall effects of climate change.”
At present, statistics is considered a distinct mathematical science rather than a branch of mathematics. An example of statistics is a report of numbers saying how many followers of each religion there are in a particular country. It helps in providing data as well as tools to analyze the data. Some powerful statistical techniques are index numbers, time series analysis, and also forecasting. These are immensely useful in the analysis of data in economic planning. Further, statistical techniques help in framing planning models too. It is important for a scholar to know the importance of proper study design, sample selection, and statistical tests in drawing accurate inferences from data. Statistical knowledge helps to use proper methods to collect the data, employ the correct analysis, and effectively present the results. It is a crucial process behind how we make discoveries in science, make decisions based on data, and make predictions. The earlier key events in the development of statistics in Europe were 1532, First weekly data on deaths in London (Sir W. Petty); 1539, Start of data collection on baptisms, marriages, and deaths in France; 1608, Beginning of parish registry in Sweden, 1654, Correspondence on gambling with dice (P. de Fermat B. Pascal); 1662, First published demographic study based on bills of mortality (J. Graunt); 1693, Publ. of An estimate of the degrees of mortality of mankind drawn from curious tables of the births and funerals at the city of Breslaw with an attempt to ascertain the price of annuities upon lives (E. Halley); 1713, Publ. of Ars Conjectandi (J. Bernoulli); 1714, Publ. of Libellus de Ratiocinus in Ludo Aleae (C. Huygens); 1714, Publ. of The Doctrine of Chances (A. De Moivre); 1763, Publ. of An essay towards solving a problem in the Doctrine of Chances (Rev. Bayes); 1809, Publ. of Theoria Motus Corporum Coelestium (C.F. Gauss); 1812, Publ. of Théorie analytique des probabilities (P.S. Laplace); 1834, Establishment of the Statistical Society of London; 1839, Establishment of the American Statistical Association (Boston); 1899, Publ. of Natural Inheritance (F. Galton); 1900, Development of the chisquare test (K. Pearson); 1901, Publ. of the first issue of Biometrika (F. Galton et al.); 1903, Development of Principal Component Analysis (K. Pearson); 1908, Publ. of The probable error of a mean (`”Student”); 1910, Publ. of An introduction to the theory of statistics (G.U. Yule); 1933, Publ. of On the empirical determination of a distribution (A.N. Kolmogorov); 1935, Publ. of The Design of Experiments (R.A. Fisher); 1936, Publ. of Relations between two sets of variables (H. Hotelling). For more historical details one can refer to Johnson and Kotz (1998). Annotated Readings in the History of Statisticsby HA David. This book contains a selection of pioneering papers or extracts ranging from Pascal (1654) to RA Fisher (1930).Statistics plays a crucial role in every field of human activity that is why Karl Pearson, the British mathematician said “Statistics is the Grammar of science”. The world Statistics Day is meant to focus mainly on official statistics, however, the scope of statistics extends in a broader sense. As for the first aspect, statistics plays essential roles in broad areas of medical sciences, earth sciences and social sciences. Statistics as such is rightly called the language of sciences. Statistical methods are rigorously applied to all scientific research and analysis. As for the second aspect, statistics are a central consideration in justifying almost every aspect of budgets, programmes and policies. Bringing out statistical publications is an essential public service, disseminating reliable and easy-to-understand information to the public is essential to generate public debate and intellectual discourse and contribute to the national progress and prosperity and help enhancing welfare of the mankind at large. The Statisticians thus carry out an essential public service: one that promotes peace and democracy by giving citizens reliable and impartial public information about their communities. Let us all acknowledge the crucial role of statistics in fulfilling our global mission of development and peace. In the context of big data, the definition in extended to veracity of data, which refers to the data quality and the data value. The data quality of captured data can vary greatly affecting the accurate analysis. Data collected must be processed with advanced tools to disclose meaningful and credible information that could be used for devising policies and schemes. Statistics bears important roles in all times. Statistics is a foundational component of modern computer science. It provides the tools and techniques necessary for understanding and making sense of data. In computer science, statistics are used to design experiments, analyze data, and make informed decisions. Further, Statistical analysis is a scientific tool in AI and ML that helps collect and analyze large amounts of data to identify common patterns and trends to convert them into meaningful information. We need local statistics to ensure that every child has access to education and we need global statistics to monitor the overall effects of climate change.
(The author is Professor Statistics at S K University Of Agriculture Sciences & Technology-SKUAST Kashmir. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
Dr. Bilal A Bhat
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