(Click on the image above to download our SDP poster)

20 October 2010 celebrates World Statistics Day under the general theme “Celebrating the many achievements of official statistics” and the core values of service, integrity and professionalism.

Of fundamental importance is the sustainable national statistical capacity to produce reliable and timely statistics and indicators measuring a country’s progress, which are an indispensable basis for informed policy decision-making and for monitoring the Millennium Development Goals at the national, regional and international levels.

Click here to read more from the United Nations....

Click here to read more about the celebrations in VANUATU...

Click here to read more about the celebrations in PAPUA NEW GUINEA...

and click here to listen to PAPUA NEW GUINEA 2010 World Statistics Day jingle...

Below, read Mr Mathew Chigiyal's statement, FSM Division of Statistics Assistant Director :

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you and thank you all for taking time away from your busy schedule to join us today to commemorate and observe the FSM National Statistics Day (October 20) which is being observed for the first time in the FSM. Today, the United Nations and the World is also celebrating this momentous day.  I wish to extend our appreciation for the support of the UNFPA since without the resources that they have provided today’s workshop would not have been possible. Thank you.

The objective of FSM National Statistics Day as articulated in the Proclamation issued by the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, his Excellency Manny Mori, is to recognize and advocate the importance of official Statistics across the FSM and its crucial role across a wide spectrum of activities – from daily decision-making of individuals, businesses and students to planning, policy-making, research and sampling and activities of governments, academia, and regional and international users.

The observance of a day devoted to Statistics arose out of the need to improve the image and visibility of statistics in the FSM, to cultivate a culture of sharing statistics across the governments, and to promote the use of statistics in all aspects of decision-making. It is a day for all producers of statistics in the Nation to remind ourselves that looking at our own produced statistics in isolation will only reveal only a small portion of the picture.  We must share statistics with our colleagues from other departments at national level (Health, Education, and Environment, for example) as well as with our counterparts in the FSM states. This action seems crucial for the purpose of adequately monitoring our Strategic Development Plan (SDP), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the implementation of the Compact and other relevant sectoral plans developed at both national and state level within the country.

The process of sharing data/information is not simple, as we all know well. It requires greater coordination amongst different departments, agencies in order to produce, but most importantly to disseminate and communicate the findings of our surveys (Census, HIES) to policy makers, communities and donors. In sharing, we can produce high-quality statistics that cover a wide range of issues and enable us to see the entire picture; to see if and how the FSM is moving forward.  
I hope our programs today are the first steps toward achieving this milestone especially for all government agencies to begin collaborating more regularly, promote sharing of administrative statistics and building a stronger national statistics system.

But surely, the data and statistics alone are without much value without the other entity comprised of the producers, users, and what we call, a “statistician”.  Unfortunately, FSM lacks more statisticians. We can only look to our educational institutions to produce that needed resources.  FSM needs you young scholars to consider statistics as a field of interest.

The observance of National Statistics Day follows closely on the heels of a major national project – the 2010 Census.  I am pleased to announce that the Census preliminary counts have been compiled and will be presented to us soon by one of our Statistics staff.  Following closely behind Census is the Household Income & Expenditure Survey (HIES).  The Statistics Division has began planning for the conduct of HIES in 2011, which is conducted every five years.  I wish to take this opportunity to thank the FSM Congress for appropriating the full budget requested for the conduct of this very important Survey.  The HIES provides a whole range of essential social and economic information particularly on income and expenditure distribution and on poverty and hardship within the FSM.

In closing, I wish to re-iterate what many of you might have seen on our banners on the road as the theme for this year’s National Statistics Day – that today we are “Celebrating the many Achievements in Statistics, thru statistics, we learn from yesterday, reshape our lives today, and chart a better tomorrow”. I am optimistic that with the right mindset on what we do with Statistics, we can build a strong infrastructure and foundation for evidence-based decision making.

THANK YOU.