Åpningssesjon: a little bit of statistical history
TRANSCRIPT
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A little bit of statistical history
and history of statistics
Ragnhild Rein Bore (Statistics Norway)
Nordic Statistical Meeting 2013
Bergen, 14-16th of august
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Small meeting with Gad, Sidenbladh and Kiær
• Chief statisticians in Norway,
Sweden and Denmark
• Goal: ”To create greater unity
between official statistical
publications in the Nordic
countries.”
• On the agenda: Census
publications and external trade
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Issues great and small were under debate
Some examples:
• Area should be measured in square kilometers with at least
two decimals
• Debating whether lodgers who ate at the table of the head
for the household was part of the household or single.
• Discrepancies between the Swedish and the Norwegian
figures for ”Blandinger i første og andet Led” (”Mixed race in
first and second generation) when it came to sami people.
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Official statistics in the Nordic countries in 1889
• All but Iceland had official
statistical offices
• All had official publications series
for official statistics
• The concept of ”Statistics”
included both numerical
descriptons of society and
statistical methods.
”It was not always so…”
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”Statistik”
• From German
• First coined by Gottfried Achenwall in 1749
• Meaning – political science/about the state
• Usually meant long, ponderous descriptions of a
country or a region...
(Seldom any numerical information before late 18th century.)
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Statistic-topographical works
” The first attempt at Norway’s Natural History”
”- describing this kingdom’s Air, Soil, Mountains, Lakes,
Plants, Metals, Minerals, Geology, Animals, Birds, Fish and
finally the Inhabitants and their way of life and particular
traits” (1752-53)
by Erich Pontoppidan
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Did the bishop discover oil in the North Sea?
«It is expected, that in the sea as on ground, there will be
running oil flows or streams of Petroleo, Naphta, (...) and
other oil type juices»
- Pontoppidan (1752-53)
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If so, the experts did not take note
”...we can disregard the possible existence of coal, oil or
sulphur on the Norwegian continental shelf”
- The Geological Survey of Norway (1958)
...
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The statistical-topographic tradition dies out
• These statistical-topographic work turned out to be
insufficient in relation to the needs of the modern state in
the 19th century.
• Statistics stopped being a collection of curiosities and
written descriptions.
• Official statistical offices were established in many
countries.
• Official statistics grew in importance and had the nation
state as its paramount category.
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More relevant roots: Political arithmetic
• Arose in Great Britain in the late 17th century
• Used everyday-arithmetic on real statistical problems
• Ex. Counting the number of chimneys to estimate the population of a town
• This tradition ”stole” the name statistics for the first time in the 1790s.
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Scandinavians were statistical pioneers
• It was a dane, Joh. Peter Anchersen, who first compiled comparable data in table form from different countries (1741)
• The development towards tables with data which could be used for comparative purposes became an important part of official statistics
• The Swedish scientists Anders Berch, Pehr Elvius and Pehr Wargentin brougth political arithmetic to Sweden in the 18th century
• Elvius was active in the work to establish ”Tabellverket” in 1749 – the world’s first government office for official statistics
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So back to 1889 and the first Nordic Statistical
Meeting
• Statistics, both as numerical descriptions and as
mathematical methods, had acquired the meaning it has
today.
• And that census publications were on the agenda in 1889 is
not surprising
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The Nordic countries were also census pioneers
• Finnish-Swedish census of 1749
considered first registration of the
entire population of a nation.
• (The Icelandic census of 1701 did
the same, but Iceland was not a
sovereign nation at the time)
First complete censuses elsewhere:
• Denmark: 1801
• Norway: 1801
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Censuses can be controversial
• In Norway, census data were used by the government to ”civilize” the
sami population.