International Statistical Institute

an international organization concerned with the development and improvement of statistical methods and with the use of statistical methods in various fields of knowledge. It was founded in 1885.

The organizational work of the institute is carried out by the Permanent Office in the Hague. As of the mid-1970’s, the institute had more than 700 members from over 70 countries, including the USSR and other socialist countries. Among the members are specialists in socioeconomic and mathematical statistics and heads of national statistical agencies and organizations. Papers on various branches of statistics are read and discussed at biennial sessions held by the institute. The first such session was held in Rome in 1887, and the 40th took place in Warsaw in 1975. The proceedings of the sessions are published in the Bulletin of the International Statistical Institute. Articles on individual problems of statistics—primarily mathematical statistics—and current information on scientific activity are presented in the journal International Statistical Review, which has been published since 1933.

Until World War I, the International Statistical Institute was a center for world collaboration in statistics. It collected and processed statistical data from many countries and prepared recommendations on data comparability. From 1919 to 1933 this activity was carried out in conjunction with agencies of the League of Nations. With the creation of the statistical machinery of the United Nations, the institute was reorganized and began concerning itself exclusively with statistical theory and methodology. The institute trains statisticians for the developing countries.

In the 1970’s three associations were created as autonomous sections of the institute: the International Association for Statistics in Physical Sciences, the International Association of Municipal Statisticians, and the International Association of Survey Statisticians.