Press release, 04.02.2014.
UN General Assembly resolution on Fundamental Principals of Official Statistics made on proposal of Hungary
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly endorsed the resolution “Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics” on 29 January 2014.
The fundamental principles of official statistics serve as a guide for the work of national statistical institutes. The collection of norms, itemised in ten points, was first adopted by the UN Statistical Commission in 1994, and the renewed version in February 2013 under the chairmanship of Ms. Gabriella Vukovich, President of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, with the additional purpose of initiating the inclusion of the Fundamental Principles in a General Assembly resolution to promote their implementation worldwide. As a result Hungary submitted the proposal for a resolution to the UN General Assembly, for which the diplomats of the Permanent Mission of Hungary to the UN in New York obtained the active support of nearly one third of the Member States already before submission.
Among others it is laid down in the document that official statistics provide an indispensable element in the information system of a democratic society, and that statistics that meet the test of practical utility and are of reliable quality are to be compiled in a cost-efficient way and be made available to all on an impartial basis by official statistical agencies. Official statistical services need to act according to strictly professional considerations when collecting, processing, storing and presenting data. On determining the source of data (direct data collections or already existing records) they are to balance professional, quality and cost-efficiency considerations as well as the burden on respondents. They are to treat personal and individual data collected for statistical purposes strictly confidentially and can use them exclusively for statistical purposes. The Fundamental Principles include the importance of bilateral and multilateral international cooperation, the assurance of international comparability and the need for methodological harmonisation.
The UN Statistical Commission elected Ms. Gabriella Vukovich, the president of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, chair in the session in 2012, and affirmed her in her office in the session in 2013. The Commission is the highest decision-making body in the field of international statistical activities, its tasks include the international harmonisation of statistical activities, the setting up of standard statistical methods, concepts and classifications, making them international standards and the promotion of their introduction in all UN Member States, and contribution to the implementation of global, regional and national development goals by elaborating comparable indicators.
Hungarian Central Statistical Office
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