The first World Statistics Day, which had the theme "Celebrating the many achievements of official statistics," was held on 20 October 2010. The day was instituted to celebrate the constant flow of data that the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) conveys to people all over the world to promote responsibility, integrity, and good governance. Notably, on this day, nations collaborate on statistical management and increase their efforts in the collection of statistics.
The next time the day was observed was in 2015, with the topic ‘Better data, better lives’. The same year, the United Nations General Assembly declared that World Statistics Day would thereafter be celebrated once every 5 years. It was a resolution that was agreed upon on 3 June 2015. The third edition of World Statistics Day was celebrated in 2020 along the lines of "Connecting the world with data we can trust". But what does the day really signify?
Do you often wonder about the role that numbers play in our daily lives? Has the chapter on statistics in your maths textbook always intrigued you? Why should you study statistics? Let’s try and answer some of these questions. Statistics allows us to logically organise and analyse large volumes of data so that we can arrive at critical information and insights.
Statistics is constantly being used in the context of healthcare, law, finance, science, education, or spending patterns. The study of uncertainty, variability, and decision-making under ambiguous conditions also falls under the purview of Statistics. The social and economic advancement of nations, the progress of society, industry, science, medicine and academics, all depend heavily on statistics.
Every aspect of our lives, including how we develop as individuals, raise families, work in our chosen professions, and choose where to live, may be researched and analysed through the lens of statistics. The government and other organisations utilise these stats to aid in planning for the future and making better facilities and infrastructure available for us. Statistics is also used extensively by mathematicians, urban planners, businesses, digital marketers, and social scientists when making crucial decisions. How nations and governments choose and exchange resources is also heavily influenced by statistics.
To commemorate this influence of statistics on how society works and to highlight the value of data and its proper handling, the UN Statistical Commission, at its 41st session in February 2010, announced that October 20 would thereafter be observed as World Statistics Day. The planning and coordination of the World Statistics Day campaign have since been handled by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic Affairs and here are the objectives that the UN has set down for World Statistics Day:
1. To recognise the critical significance of a sustainable national statistical capacity
2. To create timely, accurate statistics and indicators assessing a nation's progress, which is a crucial foundation for wisely determining policy
3. To keep track of progress toward the Millennium Development Goals at the national, regional, and global levels
4. To assist national efforts to establish and expand national statistical capacity, particularly in developing countries
Over the years, Statistics has become quite a popular choice among students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. A wide range of career opportunities is available for a statistics graduate today. Besides the obvious opportunities like actuary, statistician, data analyst, chartered accountant, business analyst, financial risk analyst, investment analyst, and adviser, there are a number of offbeat options that not every student considers right at the start.
For instance, statistics are now considered to be the foundational subject for technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and others since these are all dependent on the handling of Big Data. In fact, for a wide array of technical opportunities that are based on working with Big Data, there is a growing demand for statistics graduates who have an understanding of technology, such as data scientists, machine learning engineers, cybersecurity experts, and much more.
Read: How To Study Statistics: Course, Skills & Job Opportunities
The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists statistician as one of the professions with the fastest growth in 2018, and by 2026, it is expected to increase by 33%. Jobs in the sector are projected to increase by 7.4 percent during the same time. In fact, even if you don't intend to work as a statistician, having a fundamental understanding of statistics can offer you an advantage in any industry. In other words, the field of statistics is in the midst of significant expansion and change.
With the immense growth of Big Data and AI-ML in today’s time, statisticians stand a very good chance of success. Everyone is on the lookout for a high-paying career, but what makes statistics stand out from the crowd is its ability to connect the dots for an issue and provide an answer that is backed by solid logical reasoning gleaned from the data. In the future then, Statistics could be referred to as ‘the heart & soul of Data’.
