Statistical Terms Glossary

A process by which individual data records are altered in such a way that the entities to which the records refer can no longer be identified directly or indirectly. 

The likelihood that an individual would die between two ages given current mortality rates at each age, calculated using life table methods. The probability of death between two ages may be called a mortality rate.

A table showing the mortality experience of a hypothetical group of infants born at the same time and subject throughout their lifetime to a set of age-specific mortality rates.

Computing interface which defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries. 

Development and application of computer systems that are able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence. 

National statistical office in which the head of the office reports directly to an executive board and is not accountable to a member of the government or parliament.

Data generated by business or government transactions, social media, phone logs, communication devices, web scraping, sensors, etc., characterised by high volume, velocity and variety.

A register of businesses maintained for administrative or statistical purposes.

Survey in which the sampled population and/or the set of observation units are businesses.

National statistical system in which official statistics are predominately produced by the national statistical office rather than by statistical units in ministries, departments and agencies.

The most senior official statistician in a country.

Data produced by non-state actors with the active consent and participation of citizens primarily to tackle issues that affect them directly.

Computing power made available as a utility that can be tapped on demand. 

Website or application that enables users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. 

Data collected by non-government organizations, such as commercial and non-profit organizations, during the course of their operations for their own purposes.

An enterprise that is a corporation or a household unincorporated enterprise. 

Repository of knowledge and good practices related to statistical metadata that identifies the principles of metadata management.

Statistical tools and systems that support the activities constituting a generic statistical process, but that are not part of any specific statistical process, together with the statistical activities required for development or acquisition, maintenance and promotion of these tools and systems. 

An indicator obtained by combining individual indicators based on an underlying model of the multi-dimensional concept being measured.

Network of individuals working with a common, shared purpose, grouped together to facilitate knowledge building, idea creation and information exchange.

Consists of client and server machines, and in some cases mainframes.

Data that allow natural or legal persons to which the data refer to be identified, either directly or indirectly.

(same as) statistical confidentiality.

Allows users to upload, share, and view multimedia content such as videos, pictures, music or presentations. 

A system that manages the creation and modification of digital content. The main functions include web-based publishing, format management, history editing and version control, indexing, search, and retrieval. 

Population of units to which a statistical input or output refers.

Rules in place for the collection and storage of data in an organization.

Process of moving data that are no longer actively used to a separate storage device for long-term retention. 

Practical procedures, standards and other aspects used when compiling data from diverse sources under a common methodological framework. 

The entire network of data collectors, data producers, data analysts and other data users that directly or indirectly collect, process disseminate, analyse and/or otherwise consume data and associated services within a specified country or region.