In a globalized world the international cooperation is becoming increasingly important for Statistics Norway and other Norwegian actors working with official statistics.
Active participation in international decision-making bodies and expert groups contributes to the adaptation of the Norwegian statistical system to international standards. With the requirements for reporting statistics on Norway and Norwegian society internationally the quality of our statistics increases.
The European Statistical System
The European Statistical System (ESS) is the partnership between the EU statistical authority, (Eurostat), the national statistical authorities and other national authorities producing statistics in each of the 27 EU member countries and the 4 EFTA states that are responsible for the development, production, and dissemination of European statistics.
Eurostat has a central function in the cooperation by compiling and conducting quality controls of national statistics collected and reported by national statistical producers. Eurostat ensures that comparable European statistics produced in accordance with the quality requirements in the European Statistics Code of Practice.
Norway's participation in European statistical cooperation is anchored in the EEA Agreement. Statistics from the countries in ESS are published on Eurostat's website (ec.europa.eu).
The United Nations
The UN Statistical Commission (unstats.un.org) is the highest cooperative body in the field of statistical. The main responsibility for the Statistical Commission is in preparing international classifications and manuals. These allow for harmonized statistical production in the national statistical systems across countries. Statistics Norway represents Norway in the Statistical Commission.
Substantial statistical work is also undertaken by the regional commissions of the UN. (UNECE (unece.org) in Europe) and the many special agencies and organizations under the UN umbrella, such as the IMF, ILO, FAO and WHO, etc.
The UN Ten Fundamental Principles of National Official Statistics form the basis for legislation and quality frameworks for official statistics.
The OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (oecd.org) is actively working to promote policies that will strengthen economic and social conditions for people around the world. The organizations extensive use and dissemination of statistics for evidence-based analysis is an important reason why the OECD works closely with national statistics agencies in its member states.
Statistics Norway contributes to the work by representing Norway in the Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy. The committee has a particular responsibility for ensuring quality and coordination as well as undertake innovative the development of conceptual work, policy-relevant measures and dissemination.