The Training Of Official Statisticians: Challenges And Experiences

The growing demand and use of official statistics are changing the culture and patterns of the statistical production. Official statisticians are now faced with an increasing number and variety of users, whose demands have to be satisfied. On the other hand, a trend towards de-centralisation of the statistical systems is now developing in many countries, with the result that the responsibility for producing statistics extends far beyond the realms of the National Statistical Offices. Also, globalisation stresses the need for harmonised statistical systems. All this sets a number of new challenges in the training of official statisticians. This paper comments on some of them, and describes some experiences and results.