We encounter numbers in the media, in political discussion, and decisions. How many people live in a country, how much is produced, what is the criminality rate, education, health? In the context of living in a democratic society, statistics serve as more than just a collection of numbers and figures; they are essential to informed decision-making, transparency, and accountability.

Politics based on evidence is established to be an element that guides modern and good governance. Meaning, in a society that expects results from the government’s services, the latter must constantly evaluate what it does in order to produce relevant politics that address causes rather than relying on assumptions or hunches. More recently, in the evolvement of information technology, e-governance, and the abundance of data, the concept ‘Data for Policy’ (D4P)[1] has emerged. Experts note that by combing algorithms, machine learning and the Internet of Things, governments and societies could potentially leverage data for better policies.

This discourse makes a detour on the concept of official statistics. In a time where the process of gathering, disseminating, and analysing data is time-effective and cost-effective to the taxpayer money, the importance and utility of official statistics is being called into question.

Under the auspices of this debate, the aim of this policy paper is to (1) ignite a debate on the importance of official statistics for the functioning of (a democratic) society; (2) analyse the quality of official statistics, and (3) reflect on the future of official statistics, contextualising these elements to Albania.

The discussion will be two-fold:

• Due to a lack of statistical literacy and missing information about the quality of statistics in Albania, most of the analysis will be centred in providing a general understanding on (i) the statistical governance model in Albania, (ii) the actors and their interactions, (iii) the level of independence and the quality of official statistics.
• After this conceptual understanding is established, the policy paper aims to work upon on the importance to “open, smart, trusted statistics relevant for the society” to provide necessary adaption of statistical governance in Albania, as recommendations to the relevant authorities.

Although it is widely assumed that statistics is a technical field, this is not always the case. For citizens to make informed decisions in a variety of areas of their lives, statistics are essential. The potential influence of statistics on public policies and individual citizen decisions stems from the high degree of trust and respect that exists for data providers. As a result, this policy paper seeks to reframe statistics governance as an essential component of citizen empowerment and well-informed decision-making in Albania, rather than just as a technical field. In that endeavour, making a distinguishment between three notions used mistakenly interchangeably, data, statistics, and official statistics, takes priority.

• Data: Individual facts, raw information.
• Statistics: The organisation and interpretation of the facts. It is a process, the product, the statistical information.
• Official statistics: Official statistics are statistical outputs produced by a national statistical office (NSO) or by other designated governmental bodies. The term “official statistics” serves as a quality label, indicating that official statistics are developed, produced, and disseminated in accordance with internationally agreed statistical standards and recommendations, the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, and the European Statistics Code of Practice.

The element that distinguishes data and statistics is the process of production. Statistics, being a product, goes through a thorough process chain from production to delivery and utilisation of the final outputs. It involves expertise, well-thought methodologies, and very specific purpose. It is important to make a difference, given the myriad of information –often, of dubious nature, that exists. National Statistical Offices need to be recognised as authoritative and of the highest quality, as for citizens and public entities to rely on their data. Their mission should not only be to produce and disseminate reliable statistics, but also to convey trust that they produce a reliable output—and to address user needs.

Using baseline studies and handbooks on data for policy, statistical governance, and policy for data, which serve as a compass to guide the analysis of the Statistical Governance in Albania, the analysis in this policy paper provides the foundation for engaging these standards in evidence-driven policy in Albania. Through an in-depth examination of standards and benchmarks that define the quality of official statistics, we provide evidence on the importance to use official statistics rather than simple data on decision-making processes. However, this is recommended when the official statistics are independent, impartial, relevant, accessible, and trustworthy. This policy paper reflects on Albania’s statistical governance model and recent developments in the field of official statistics. It offers policymakers information on what to base their policies on, gives stakeholders in the official statistics field the evidence they need to drive positive change in users’ trust and use of statistics, and explains to the citizens how official statistics are produced and why it is important to use and refer to them.

Analysing “who”, “what” and “why” in statistical governance, we find that the system is designed in accordance with the guidelines set forth in international standards. Potential avenues for political influence exist, but they are intertwined with the culture of individual and institutional independence. Addressing this challenge is not easily achievable through normative or legal provisions. However, the findings that there are some concerns relating to the quality in statistics, statistical auditing and a not-user oriented/friendly approach, suggests there are

The topic is very timely, and independence, high quality statistics, quality management, and evidence-based decision making are keywords that are not well-researched or debated in the context of Albania.

A detailed overview of findings and recommendations follows.

Statistical Governance in Albania

In Albania, the legal framework that governs the collection, processing, development, and distribution of official statistics is the Law no. 17/2018 “On Official Statistics”. In addition to the law, the Official Statistics Program, which is prepared by INSTAT in cooperation with statistical agencies, taking into consideration the opinion of the Statistics Council, and which is sent to the Council of Ministers to propose to the Assembly – after the completion of this process, is the basic document that defines the strategy for the development of official statistics and the National Statistical System for a period of five years, aiming to fulfil the demands of users for quality statistics. Referring to the law, producers of official statistics are: INSTAT, Bank of Albania; and Statistical Agencies. All three elements contribute to what is known as the “National Statistical System” (NSS). In line with the purpose and functionality of this policy document, the mode of operation, interaction, and integrity of the SKS statistics producers will unfold the governance of statistics in Albania.

In this governance framework, INSTAT is the statistical authority that ensures that the processes of production of official statistics are conducted in accordance with the EU and international principles and standards. However, if the design of the system is already regulated by the law, in a model ‘transposed’ from Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, then the challenge is to produce statistics exactly to that standard.

The study’s findings about the governance of statistics include the following concerns: (1) decentralisation of data production, which could result in inconsistent and inefficient data production; (2) relying solely on administrative data for some statistical fields, which could not accurately reflect reality and compromise the accuracy of the statistics; (3) a potential lack of comprehension of statistical data’s existence and how it is used by the citizens; and (4) despite the fact that INSTAT’s independence has been reinforced through reforms, worries about the possibility of political influence or pressure on data collection, analysis, and distribution still exist. Both public trust and the validity of official statistics may be impacted by this.

The assumptions are based on established findings on similar practices to those employed by the national statistical office. They are not based on an empirical analysis on scrutinising the processes (‘how’) and the output (‘why’), but rather focus on the principle of achieving the goal to “have trust in statistical governance” and the sub-goals, to (i) strengthening the independence and innovativeness of producing official statistics, (ii) consider the interest of citizens in designing statistical activities (given that the production of official statistics is funded by taxpayers’ money) and guarantee oversight/control of the execution by an apolitical entity, and (iii) harmonize official statistics with both international and EU standards, with the aim of achieving comparability.

In order to emphasise the critical role that statistics play in making well-informed decisions, the government should actively encourage the incorporation of statistical data into policymaking. Increasing the visibility of statistics guarantees that knowledge derived from data will play a crucial role in the creation of policies. Good governance requires accountability, openness, and evidence-based decision-making, all of which are fostered by this integration.

 

Quality in statistics

The quality of a country’s governance means the level to which its institutions (such as INSTAT) and processes (such as the collection of official statistics) are transparent, giving citizens the opportunity to participate in decisions that affect their lives. The study further discloses how INSTAT’s interaction with statistical agencies is regulated, the principles on which the operationalization of its mission is based, as well as the audit process of the statistical service in the country. An examination of the quality of the process of producing official statistics results that the statistical offices are more concerned with the accuracy of the statistics, rather than the quality. Quality includes accuracy as an element, in addition to relevance, consistency, continuity, timeliness, accessibility to the statistics it produces. In focusing more on the production, and less in the relevance to the data, their transparency and independence, there is a risk that the statistical system in Albania may fail to be recognised as an authoritative and relevant body for the user. This could impact on the long-term the democratic element of the society. If the distinction between data, statistics and official statistics blur, the consequence is that users may opt to utilize any type of data for their decision-making processes. This lack of differentiation could lead to decisions being based on potentially unreliable or unverified information, potentially undermining the accuracy and effectiveness of decision-making processes.

There is also found a lack of the civil society’s focus on the matter of statistics. Civil society plays a crucial role in the quality system of statistics. For this reason, it is recommended that civil society be more involved in advocating for transparency, more friendly platforms, as well as open data initiatives, in order to increase citizens’ access to government data. Also, it is recommended to increase cooperation between INSTAT, civil society, and educational institutions, to increase awareness on statistics, ‘data literacy’ and ‘statistical literacy’ (the ability to read, process and analyse data and statistics), and the critical role of accessible data in good governance. Finally, civil society is recommended to monitor and report on issues related to the integrity of statistical data, possible misuse of statistics and violations of data privacy regulations, demanding responsibility to the relevant authorities.

Furthermore, it is recommended that the statistical office undertake strategies for the recognition and promotion of the brand and its platform. Statistics are not considered useful if they are not used, either by policy makers or citizens. For this reason, the statistical office needs to explore ways to increase the visibility of the statistics in the country. In this regard, INSTAT is recommended to create or improve partnerships with NGOs, media bodies and educational institutions to raise awareness of the importance of statistics and to promote knowledge of data.

 

Alignment with the EU and international standards

The governance of statistics in Albania is mostly in accordance with the norms and standards offered as a model by the European Union. Elements that are absent but that the pertinent Albanian institutions might find interesting to consider are the inclusion of a (i) neutral officer according to the Dutch model, which is designed to answer questions about the focus of the work, partnerships or activity of the statistical agency (in addition, an administrative appeal may be filed against the acts of the statistical agency); (ii) the committee on ethics, which is put to work when statistical agencies consider a request for research (by analogy, the implementation of article 35 on statistical services in law no. 17/2018 “On official statistics”), and (iii) the concept of total quality management.

The alignment of Albania’s statistical system with EU standards and best practices is essential for its aspirations for EU integration. However, challenges remain in applying these standards consistently and effectively across all statistical actors and data areas.

Through an in-depth audit of the governance of statistics in Albania, the systems and procedures that control the production, dissemination, and utilization of statistical data, this study aims to highlight and inform on the integral role played by reliable and unbiased statistics in upholding the foundations of a democratic society.

[1] According to OECD, national, regional and local governments need precise and timely data to implement better policies for wellbeing and sustainable development. Data and indicators are key for strategic planning and decision making and are tools for promoting informed dialogues across levels of government and sectors of society, integrating both a national and an international perspective.