President declares October 20 as National Statistics Day

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has made the decision to designate October 20th of every year as National Statistics Day.

According to the President’s Office, the President made the decision following discussions with his Cabinet on a paper presented by the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure during a Cabinet meeting earlier this Tuesday.

World Statistics Day, created by United Nations Statistical Commission, is celebrated every five years.

Presenting the paper on celebrating a National Statistics Day, Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Mohamed Aslam said that celebrating statistics as a national day will promote and develop the field of statistics in Maldives, including expanding the usage of statistics in shaping and framing policies for decision making.

Celebrating a National Statistics Day will also raise public awareness and build a pro-statistics generation in Maldives, he said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had called for greater promotion and development of statistics in a letter to heads of UN member states earlier this year.

In his letter, he invited the United Nations system and other international and regional organizations, as well as civil society, research institutions, media and all producers and users of official statistics, to do their part to highlight the value of statistics in meeting the challenges of modern times.