United Nations, 100 countries to celebrate World Statistics Day
Those crime statistics in your county’s annual reports don’t compile themselves. And where do you think those average-normal seasonal temperatures come from? Well, the United Nations thinks it’s time everyone recognizes the statistics, and statisticians, that power our world.
More than 100 countries will celebrate the U.N.’s first World Statistics Day on Wednesday to strengthen awareness and trust in official statistics and acknowledge statisticians’ public service.
And Oct. 20 is the perfect day to celebrate, the U.N. decided, because the date is striking: Using European-style date order, Wednesday is 20-10-2010.
This alone shows that statisticians have a sense of humor.
Despite the stereotypes, all statisticians don’t sit at a desk crunching numbers all day with a pad and pen in hand, said Andrew Wright, a crime mapping analyst who gives information to the Maryland Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention.
“I think it’s probably viewed by the general public as boring,” Wright said. “They don’t realize the power statistics have.”
Wright is part of a Washington College program that analyzes crime data for law enforcement agencies across Maryland.
Statisticians go beyond raw numbers to use statistics as analytical tools that have real applications, Wright said. This is especially true in law enforcement, which uses statistics to modify practices to reduce crime and to measure whether these changes produce results, he said.
Gov. Martin O’Malley is “big on statistics” and uses them to make decisions, Wright said.
Here’s a good statistic: Maryland employed about 9.2 percent of the country’s statisticians with 2,675 employed in 2008, the most recent year data are available, according to occupational projections from Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
And statistics help promote world peace, so says U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who commended statisticians for carrying out “an essential public service.”
