Welcome Message

Dear IAOS Members,

Welcome to the IAOS website.

I am very proud, happy, and thankful to be elected as President of the International Association for Official Statistics for the period 2021-2023.

I am following John Pullinger in the role of IAOS President. I am inheriting from him and his predecessors an organization which is well known and makes a mark in the statistical community. The Association under their leadership was developed as a strong organization with a strategic vision. This makes my role easier. It also puts a burden on me to transfer the Association to the next President in the same good shape I inherited.

I am elected President together with a new Executive Committee (EXCO), membership of which is diverse and very capable to achieve the IAOS goals. Together with the EXCO we will aim to make our community grow, improve the Statistical Journal of IAOS, widen the group of young statisticians participating in a Young Statisticians Prize competition, and organize IAOS conferences.  As we are a volunteer organization, we all rely on the good will and enthusiasm of many committed to improve official statistics as an evidence base for social and economic policy making in a democratic society.

The IAOS has a unique place among other organizations as it represents official statisticians, data scientists in the NSOs and academia, as well as data users. The last few years were critical to the world and the statistical community – striving to achieve and measure the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to rapidly release information on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts in a changing data collection environment. In addition, the cases of suppressing real evidence and replacing it with fake news are becoming very evident. All these issues bring additional importance to the IAOS which works to support capacity building and advise the public on the use and misuse of statistics and other issues related to data and ethics.

I am inviting all of you and other colleagues interested in improving official statistics to actively participate in IAOS activities.

Misha Belkindas
IAOS President