World Statistics Day

World Statistics Day on October 20 aims to show that good data and statistics are indispensable for informed decision-making by all actors in society. The United Nations event is celebrated every 5 years.

The resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly on June 3, 2015.

Sustainable Progress

The UN stresses that reliable and timely statistics and indicators are more important than ever:

"On this World Statistics Day, I urge all partners and stakeholders to work together to ensure that the necessary investments are made, adequate technical capacity is built, new data sources are explored and innovative processes are applied to give all countries the comprehensive information systems they need to achieve sustainable development," stated Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General before the UN event in 2015.

Countable Facts

Statistics is a way of collecting, analyzing, interpreting, presenting, and organizing data. Applying statistics to larger groups of data gives a general overview of issues, including scientific, industrial, or social problems.

"We need to ensure that everyone is counted, especially the most poor and vulnerable. No child’s birth shall remain unregistered. No incidence of disease, no matter how remote the location, shall remain unrecorded. We need local statistics to ensure that every child has access to education and we need global statistics to monitor the overall effects of climate change," said Ban Ki-Moon.