On October 20, Rwanda joined the rest of the world to observe World Statistics Day to celebrate the process of collecting, analysing, and interpreting huge amounts of massive data to contribute to the betterment of society.
According to the Statistics Division of the UN’s Department of Economic Affairs (UNSD), World Statistics Day is celebrated every five years.
It also aims to create awareness about the achievements of official statistics that were based on the values of service, professionalism, and integrity.
Countries come together on this day to collaborate on statistical management and dedicate more effort to the process of gathering statistics.
According to the third National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS3) published by National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) in 2019, statistics are essential to inform decision-making, design policy and optimize service delivery.
The strategy also reveals that statistics help stakeholders from across government, development partners, the private sector, civil society, academia and the general public to recognise the value of timely, relevant, accurate and reliable data flows to support national development.
David Mugabo, a statistician based in Kigali, said that to him, statistics is everything in life because it’s a tool based on numbers that help people or a country to plan for the future, adding that things or people should be counted in order to count.
He declared that statistics also helps in discovering the hidden truth through researching and investigating, adding that it helps in academic research as well as the development of social and economic development of any country.
As a challenge, he said that some people don’t know the value of statistics, though at least more than a half in Rwanda know why statisticians collect data because they are explained its need every time there is an ongoing research or investigation.
Grace Ukwezi Mugaragu Ingabire, another statistician, declared that statistics data are accurate because the data collection process always involves monitoring and validation steps through which incoming data is monitored ideally in real time, adding that the sample data is validated as per study requirements and law.
On World Statistics Day, she called out people to join the field, declaring that there is something satisfying about decoding numbers and being able to tell a story from them while being backed up by scientific facts.
However, she said that the field still has some challenges that include unavailability of enough technological tools and freelance opportunities.
In accordance with its tradition of marking the day every five years, the UN will observe the next World Statistics Day on October 20, 2025.