International Statisticians Meeting In Wellington

More International Statisticians On Average in Wellington This Week

Meeting the statistical rights of indigenous people, measuring health issues for Native Americans, and assessing trends for Mäori in the New Zealand labour market are among the topics being discussed at a major international statistics conference in Wellington this week.

From 14 April, more than 200 statisticians from New Zealand and overseas will gather at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa for a two-day International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS) satellite conference entitled “Measuring Small and Indigenous Populations”.

New Zealand's Government Statistician, Brian Pink, is the newly elected chair of IAOS and will lead the conference. He says this specialised statistical conference is a first for New Zealand, and addresses a range of important issues.

“Understanding the size and characteristics of indigenous and small groups in populations is a vital part of developing evidence-based policy,” he says. “Statistics New Zealand wants to share its knowledge and learn from other researchers and statistical agencies around the world.

"Of particular interest will be papers on innovative ways to get good statistical information from groups that can be poorer, geographically dispersed and speak different languages from the IAOS represents more than 70 countries and has 439 members with a professional interest in the generation and use of official statistics. Representatives attending the conference include the national statisticians of Australia and the United Kingdom; a former, French-based head of IAOS; and a number of international experts in their subject areas. More than half the conference presentations are by international delegates.

The conference follows a Sydney meeting of the International Statistical Institute, of which IAOS is an important part. It opens in Wellington with a parliamentary reception hosted by the Hon Pete Hodgson, Minister of Statistics.

Ian Ewing

Acting Government Statistician

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