Official Statistics 4.0

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

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2. Official Statistics—An Introduction

   • Walter J. Radermacher

   Pages 1-9

3. Official Statistics—Public Informational Infrastructure

   • Walter J. Radermacher

   Pages 11-52

4. Science and Society: A Reflexive Approach to Official Statistics

   • Walter J. Radermacher

   Pages 53-117

5. Official Statistics 4.0: The Era of Digitisation and Globalisation

   • Walter J. Radermacher

   Pages 119-156

6. A Confident Look into the Future of Official Statistics

   • Walter J. Radermacher

   Pages 157-158

This book explores official statistics and their social function in modern societies. Digitisation and globalisation are creating completely new opportunities and risks, a context in which facts (can) play an enormously important part if they are produced with a quality that makes them credible and purpose-specific. In order for this to actually happen, official statistics must continue to actively pursue the modernisation of their working methods.

This book is not about the technical and methodological challenges associated with digitisation and globalisation; rather, it focuses on statistical sociology, which scientifically deals with the peculiarities and pitfalls of governing-by-numbers, and assigns statistics a suitable position in the future informational ecosystem. Further, the book provides a comprehensive overview of modern issues in official statistics, embodied in a historical and conceptual framework that endows it with different and innovative perspectives. Central to this work is the quality of statistical information provided by official statistics. The implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the form of indicators is another driving force in the search for answers, and is addressed here.

This book will be of interest to a broad readership. The topics of sociology, epistemology, statistical history and the management of production processes, which are important for official statistics and their role in social decision-making processes, are generally not dealt with in statistics books. The book is primary intended for official statisticians, but researchers and advanced students in statistics, economics, sociology and the political sciences will find the book equally stimulating. Last but not least, it offers a valuable source of reflection for policymakers and stakeholders.

• official statistics
• informational governance
• statistical sociology
• internet of things
• globalisation
• digitisation
• statistics and society
• sustainable development

“I highly recommend this book. The topic of official statistics might seem dry and uninteresting to some, but this author provides a unique perspective that students and practitioners will find useful. Plenty of figures, illustrations and flowcharts (in colour) are used to show the concepts. Many references are included at the end of each chapter for those readers who want to delve into the topics in more depth.” (Wendy L. Martinez, International Statistical Review, Vol. 89 (3), 2021)

• Department of Statistical Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

  Walter J. Radermacher

Dr. Walter J. Radermacher was Director General of Eurostat and Chief Statistician of the European Union from 2008 to 2016. He worked at Destatis, the German Federal Statistical Office, for 30 years, ultimately as its President and Federal Returning Officer. He was the first Chair of the UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA) from 2005 to 2008. Since 2017 he has been a Researcher at the Department of Statistical Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, and the President of FENStatS, the Federation of European National Statistical Societies.

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