Term Paper on

Official statistics of Bangladesh

Prepared by: MD. RUHUL- AMIN

Session: 2014-15

Dept. of AIS

Comilla University

Introduction to Official Statistics of BD

Definition of Official Statistics

Official statistics are statistics published by government agencies or other public bodies such as
international organizations. They provide quantitative or qualitative information on all major
areas of citizens' lives, such as economic and social development, living conditions, health,
education, and the environment. During the 16th and 17th centuries, statistics were a method for
counting and listing populations and State resources. The term statistics comes from the New
Latin statisticum collegium (council of state) and refers to science of the state.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, official

statistics are statistics disseminated by the national statistical system, excepting those that are
explicitly not to be official". Of course, governmental agencies at all levels, including municipal,
county, and state administrations, may generate and disseminate official statistics. This broader
possibility is accommodated by later definitions. For example: "Almost every country in the
world has one or more government agencies (usually national institutes) that supply decision-
makers and other users including the general public and the research community with a

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continuing flow of information and also Bangladesh has a government agency named by
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics(BSS). This bulk of data is usually called official statistics.
Official statistics should be objective and easily accessible and produced on a continuing basis so
that measurement of change is impossible." Official statistics result from the collection and
processing of data into statistical information by a government institution or international
organization. They are then disseminated to help users develop their knowledge about a
particular topic or geographical area, make comparisons between countries or understand
changes over time. Official statistics make information on economic and social development
accessible to the public, allowing the impact of government policies to be assessed, thus
improving accountability.

The Importance of Statistics in Bangladesh

It is a general consensus that reliable and timely statistics is inevitable for the evidence based
planning and policy making. With the emergence of market economy and development of
information and communication technology the demand for statistics has increased
tremendously. Now statistics is being used in every sphere of life. Moreover, statistics is
essential for the effective monitoring of progress and performance in a number of important
areas, such as measuring the progress of the society, monitoring the progress towards achieving
the MDGs, poverty reduction, food security & nutrition, social development, macroeconomic
performance, climate change and environmental sustainability. As Bangladesh is gradually
moving towards the middle income nation, therefore, statistics could be considered as the only
right tool for evidence based policy-making, proper program intervention to ensure the optimum
use of public resources and measuring the progress.

Aim
Official statistics provide a picture of acountry or different phenomena through data,and images
such as graph and maps.Statistical information covers different subjectareas (economic,

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demographic, social etc.). Itprovides basic information for decision making, evaluations and
assessments atdifferent levels.The goal of statistical organizations is toproduce relevant,
objective and accurate statistics to keep users well informed andassist good policy and decision-
making.

Various categories
The Fundamental Principles of Official Statisticswere adopted in 1992 by the United
NationsEconomic Commission for Europe, andsubsequently endorsed as a global standardby the
United Nations Statistical Commission.

According to the first Principle "Officialstatistics provide an indispensable element inthe

information system of a democraticsociety, serving the government, the economyand the public
with data about the economic,demographic, social and environmental situation".

The categorization of the domains of officialstatistics has been further developed in

theClassification of Statistical Activities,endorsed by the Conference of EuropeanStatisticians
and various other bodies.

Sources of Official Statistics

There are two sources of data for statistics.

Primary, or "statistical" sources are data that are collected primarily for creating official
statistics, and include statistical surveys and censuses. Secondary, or "non-statistical" sources,
are data that have been primarily collected for some other purpose (administrative data, private
sector data etc.).

Primary Sources

A primary source is an original source that documents an event in time, a person or an idea.

Some examples of primary sources are: raw data, original research (journal articles, books), diary
entries, letters and other correspondence, photographs, artifacts, audio or video broadcasts (that
catch events as they unfold) Eyewitness accounts or interviews, legal documents, government

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documents, public records (e.g. birth certificates), records or other documents created by
organizations

Statistical survey or sample survey: A statistical survey or a sample survey is an investigation

about the characteristics of a phenomenon by means of collecting data from a sample of the
population and estimating their characteristics through the systematic use of statistical
methodology. The main advantages are the direct control over data collection and the possibility
to ask for data according to statistical definitions. Disadvantages include the high cost of data
collection and the quality issues relating to non-response and survey errors.

There are various survey methods that can be used such as direct interviewing, telephone, mail,
online surveys.

Census:A census is a complete enumeration of a population or groups at a point in time with

respect to well-defined characteristics (population, production). Data are collected for a specific
reference period. A census should be taken at regular intervals in order to have comparable
information available, therefore, most statistical censuses are conducted every 5 or 10 years.
Data are usually collected through questionnaires mailed to respondents, via the Internet, or
completed by an enumerator visiting respondents, or contacting them by telephone. An
advantage is that censuses provide better data than surveys for small geographic areas or sub-
groups of the population. Census data can also provide a basis for sampling frames used in
subsequent surveys. The major disadvantage of censuses is usually the high cost associated with
planning and conducting them, and processing the resulting data.

Moreover, individual administrative registers are usually of high quality and very detailed. A
disadvantage is the possible under- coverage that can be the case if the incentive or the cultural
tradition of registering events and changes are weak, if the classification principles of the register
are not clearly defined or if the classifications do not correspond to the needs of statistical
production to be derived from them.

Secondary Sources

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Secondary sources build upon primary resourcesby analyzing, interpreting, synthesizing ordiscussing
them.

Examples would be:books, journal articles (that do not provideoriginal research).

A good way to determine whether or not asource we are evaluating is primary orsecondary in nature is
to ask yourself:"Is this 'first-hand' information or 'second-hand'information?"If we said 'first-hand' then
it is likely a primarysource. If we said 'second-hand', then it's likelya secondary source.

However, there is not always such a cleardelineation. A secondary source may also be aprimary source,
depending on the context its used in.

Characteristics of Official Statistics

Some of the most important characteristics of statistics are as follows:

1. It consists of aggregates of facts: In the plural sense, statistics refers to data, but data to be
called statistics must consist of aggregate of certain facts. A single and isolated fact or figure
like, 60 K.Gs. weight of a student or the death of a particular person on a day does not amount to
statistics.

For a data may amount to statistics it must be in the form of a set or aggregate of certain facts,
viz. 50, 65, 70 K.Gs. Weight of students in a class or profits of a firm over different times etc. is
liable to be effected by multiplicity of causes.

2. It is effected by many causes: It is not easy to study the effects of one factor only by ignoring
the effects of other factors. Here we have to go for the effects of all the factors on the
phenomenon separately as well as collectively, because effects of the factors can change with
change of place, time or situation.

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Here, the overall effect is taken and not of one factor only as in other natural sciences. For
example, we can say that result of class XII in board examination does not depend on any single
factor but collectively on standard of teachers, teaching methods, teaching aids, practicals
performance of students, standard of question papers and as well as of evaluation.

3. It should be numerically expressed: A data to be called statistics should be numerically

expressed so that counting or measurement of data can be made possible. It means that the data
or the fact to constitute statistics must be capable of being expressed in some quantitative form as
weights of 60, 70, 100 and 90 Kg. or profits of tk. 10,000, tk. 20,000 etc. Thus these data must
contain numerical figures so that those may be called as numerical statement of facts.

4. It must be enumerated or estimated accurately: As stated above that the statements should
be precise and meaningful. For getting reasonable standard of accuracy the field of enquiry
should not be very large. If it is infinite or very large, even enumeration of data is impossible and
reasonable standard of accuracy may not be achieved. To achieve it we have to make on estimate
according to reasonable standard of accuracy depending upon the nature and purpose of
collection of data. E.g. we may measure the height of buildings in meters but we cannot measure
the length of small things like bricks in the same unit of meter.

5. It should be collected in a systematic manner: Another characteristic of statistics is that the

data should be collected in a systematic manner. The data collected in a haphazard manner will
lead to difficulties in the process of analysis, and wrong conclusions. A proper plan should be
made and trained investigators should be used to collect data so that they may collect statistics. If
it is not done, in such cases reliability of data gets decreased. So to get correct results the data
must be collected in a precise manner.

6. It should be collected for a predetermined purpose: Before we start the collection of data,
we must be clear with the purpose for which we are collecting the data. If we have no
information about its purpose, we may not be collecting data according to the needs. We may
need some more relevant data to achieve the required purpose, which we would miss in the event
of its ignorance.

Suppose we want to get data on imports and exports, we have to know about various segments
such as electronics, consumer articles, grains and such other segregations also. If some person on

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govt. duty is counting the vehicles passing through a road in a unit time is statistics, but same
work done by any other person not related to this field, is not statistics because the former is
doing it for the Government which wants to make it four lane road-if needed.

7. It should be capable of being placed in relation to each other: It is last but not less
important of the characteristics of the statistics. The collection of data is generally done with the
motive to compare. If the figures collected are not comparable, in that case, they lose a large part
of their significance.

Limitations of Official Statistics

Like most of the national statistical offices (NSOs) in developing countries, Bangladesh Bureau
of Statistics (BBS) has been experiencing some drawbacks that should be addressed for
enhancing sustainable institutional capacity and service quality of the BBS. One common
drawback of the BBS is the use of traditional methods in data collection, supervision and data
dissemination which takes a lot of time to edit, capture and disseminate data of national censuses
and surveys. Due to time lag in data collection and data dissemination the usefulness and
importance of data become redundant and national programs and policies suffers from lack of
timely data. In the recent years BBS is endeavoring to improve its position with respect to
statistical methods using innovative technique in data collection and management and also in
data dissemination. For streamlining these issues, the governance issues are also crucial because
without proper administrative measures the improvement and innovation in the area of data
collection and dissemination is not possible.

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In the present paper the innovative techniques adopted in the context of Bangladesh in the recent
years in respect of governance, data collection and management and dissemination has been
highlighted.
Constraints in BBS in respect of Governance, Data collection and Dissemination
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has been experiencing following constraints that should
be addressed for enhancing sustainable institutional capacity and service quality of the BBS. The
problem may be categorized as follows:

1. Lack of statistical legislation: There is no general statistical law which governs the activities
of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. The statistical activities of Bangladesh Bureau of
Statistics are currently supported by two outdated pieces of legislation, namely; (i) the Census
Order,1972, adopted from census acts of earlier years, which authorizes the Director General of
BBS to plan, supervise and conduct censuses throughout the country; and
(ii) The Industrial Statistical act, 1942, which enables collection of industrial statistics without
adequate concern for confidentiality of data and building trust among the data producers and data
compiler. Statistical reporting is not ensured through legal mandate. In fact, data collection is
based on voluntary responses. In order to streamline and rationalize statistical activities and
specifically empower the BBS to perform its data collecting functions ensuring confidentiality of
data and build rapport with private and corporate data provider, it is very much desirable to enact
a general or an
Umbrella Statistical Act in modern lines.
2. Weak Statistical System at Local level: BBS have 509 Upazilla Statistical offices located at
Upazilla head quarter and 23 Regional Statistical offices located at 23 District head quarter (out
of 64 districts). All these offices are very much deficient in adequate/trained manpower,
computing equipment, computer-aided data collection system, storage, and retrieval and
dissemination system. BBS has no offices at district (41 districts) and divisional level. To
strengthen the local statistical system as a source of local statistics, establishment of statistical
offices at district and divisional level (to supervise and coordinate the work of district statistical
offices) is very much urgent. Besides, the staff members of the statistical offices at local level
should be trained through expanding statistical training courses and programs. Moreover, local

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statistical offices (at least district statistical offices) to be equipped with computer and computer
aided data collection system should be developed.
3. Inadequate Human Resource Management and development: Trained and skilled
manpower is inevitable for producing reliable and quality statistical data. In BBS trained and
skilled manpower is not adequate.
Relevant statistical training program to be conducted for upgrading the capabilities of the of the
BBS personnel.
4. Inadequate support to professionalism: Aptitude and /or expertise in statistics (for example
sampling techniques or subject matter area) carry a little or no weight in the process of
recruitment/ promotion. The recruitment procedure has a little scope to test the applicants
aptitude or expertise in statistics. Promotion is based only on the seniority measured by the
length of service period. Capability/ expertise etc. are not given due weight for promotion. Staff
members are generally engaged in data collection and compilation. Generally, the staff members
of BBS are not normally encouraged or privileged to do research work or analysis data. No
standing committee/ working group are there who can review the publication professionally and
suggest improvements to maintain the BBS reputation for professionalism.
5. Absence of policy guidance body: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) yet has no any
apex body to work independently for formulating policy guidelines under the broader framework
of the country planning and overall government policy. A powerful and independent policy
guidance body is very much necessary to advise BBS about formulating an effective statistical
policy and implementing the same in an efficient manner.
6. Absence of Statistical Training and Research Institute: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
(BBS) has no any training institute to upgrade the quality of statistical personnel and expand the
statistical manpower to support the needs of the statistical system of Bangladesh. In fact, no
explicit body is there to oversee the development of national statistical program and priorities.
7. Statistical development is not priorities in the national Agenda: Like many other
developing countries, statistical development is not given due weight in the national agenda.
8. Inadequate budgetary provision: The present budget allocation is not adequate for
implementing the statistical activities smoothly.
9. Computer equipment is not commensurate with the statistical activities: Computing
resources are not adequate. Computing resourcesexist for staff at officers level only. Many of

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the supporting staff donthave personal computer (PC). The number of PC is significantly below
thenumber required for performing the tasks.
10. Time lag exists: Long lag exist between the completion of the survey/ census and the final
release of data.
11. Absence of Data Producers and Users Forum: BBS dont have any structural and
periodic process of consultation with users advisory committee or working group constituted
with the member from policymaking ministries/departments or other key data users agencies.

Publishing Agencies
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of statistics, literature, music, or
information the activity of making information available to the general public. In some cases,
authors may be their own publishers, meaning originators and developers of content also provide
media to deliver and display the content for the same. Also, the word publisher can refer to the
individual who leads a publishing company or an imprint or to a person who owns/heads a
magazine.

Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books (the "book
trade") and newspapers. With the advent of digital information systems and the Internet, the
scope of publishing has expanded to include electronic resources such as the electronic versions
of books and periodicals, as well as micropublishing, websites, blogs, video game publishers,
and the like. Publishing includes the following stages of development: acquisition, copy editing,
production, printing (and its electronic equivalents), and marketing and distribution.

Publication is also important as a legal concept:

1. as the process of giving formal notice to the world of a significant intention, for example, to
marry or enter bankruptcy;

2. As the essential precondition of being able to claim defamation; that is, the alleged libel must
have been published, and

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3. for copyright purposes, where there is a difference in the protection of published and
unpublished works.

Their Validity and Reliability

Validity
The extent to which a measure, indicator or method of data collection possesses the quality of
being sound or true as far as can be judged.in the social sciences generally,the relationship
between indicators and measures and the underlying concepts they are taken to measure is often
contested (Jary&Jary, 1995: 714).
In effect, the validity of information is its relevance and appropriateness to your research
question and the directness and strength of its association with the concepts under scrutiny. Often
you will have to use best available information whose validity may be weak. For example, to
what extent, if any, does the decline in sectarian violence in N. Ireland post-2001 reflect a
lessening of antagonisms between conflicting groups? Does the election of an opposition party
reflect popular support for its manifesto or criticism of the outgoing government? Do declining
rates of party membership reflect a lessening of interest in health andeducation? One measure
that intrigues Politics researchers is the counterfactual events that dont happen as evidence of
hegemonic domination. But how can researchers be confident that the absence of an event can be
attributed to the omnipresence of another? One solution to this particular problem of problematic
validity is for you to adopt a wider range of measures to reduce dependence on any one.
Reliability
Reliability is, literally, the extent to which we can rely on the source of the data and, therefore,
the data itself. Reliable data is dependable, trustworthy, unfailing, sure, authentic, genuine,
reputable. Consistency is the main measure of reliability. So, in literary accounts, the reputation
of the source is critical. In John Coles view,Richard Crossman was not a reliable diarist.
Indicators of reliability will include proximity to events, (whether the writer was a participant or
observer,) likely impartiality, and whether, as the police say, the record was really
contemporaneous or an eventide reflection on the days events. Very few politicians admit to real
failings: all too often, their own agenda appears to justify their actions or to criticize others. Tony
Benns diaries seek to portray the inner workings of Research Methods in Politics and Cabinet
government.

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 Conclusion
The innovation in governance, data collection and dissemination are a continuous process. NSOs
should pursue the innovation in governance, data collection and dissemination all the time to
cater the need of the users. In the context of Bangladesh, BBS is always in favor of innovation.
The innovative measures described above have brought momentum in the activities of BBS. This
initiative will continue in future and BBS will adopt more innovative techniques to bring radical
change in its activities to meet the data needs of the users instantly.

References

1. www.bbs.gov.bd/
2. www.unicef.org/bangladesh/
3. en.m.wikipedia.org/officialstatistics/
4. www.unstats.un.org/
5. www.undp.org/

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