Global stats crisis puts lives at risk, Nature argues

A global statistical crisis is impeding governments’ and businesses’ decision-making, a leading scientific journal warned.

“The term ‘official statistics’ is not usually a headline-grabber,” Nature acknowledged in a major report, but good data is vital to understanding everything from inflation to nutrition. Inadequate funding, politicization, and falling survey response rates have worsened data collection across many countries.

The White House fired the chief US labor statistician when data showed an unwelcome trend of rising unemployment, while India’s official statistics are increasingly untrustworthy. Funding is “going in the wrong direction,” Nature said, as philanthropic bodies provide less support in lower-income countries. Lives are at stake: “Decisions based on incomplete or incorrect knowledge are invariably bad, even harmful,” Nature noted.