Consensus Study Highlights  | March 2025

Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency

EIGHTH EDITION

From its first edition in 1992 to this eighth edition, this report is intended to support the invaluable role of relevant, credible, trusted, independent, and innovative government statistics. These principles and practices have influenced federal statistical policy and have proven helpful to Congress, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, federal statistical agencies, and other statistics-producing offices. The volume is used across the federal statistical system and an ever-expanding community of producers and users of national statistics to introduce and support their staff in a shared culture.

PUBLIC VALUE OF NATIONAL STATISTICS

People rely on data and statistics throughout their lives, often without realizing it. They may check weather, traffic, or air quality reports and other readily available data to guide how they go about their day. They may use data to inform key family and personal decisions, such as where to live, based on information about housing, crime, schools, and jobs. In their own jobs, people may use data to guide policies and programs, make investment decisions, plan for the future, and develop knowledge.

The cornucopia of information that people use in all these ways and often take for granted comes from a wide range of sources—censuses, surveys, sensors, commercial transactions, and records of all kinds. Many actors provide useful information, but, across the world, central governments have the role of producing key national statistics to inform policymakers and the public.

Learn more about how national statistics affect daily life.

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HOW STATISTICS INFORM POLICY

A democratic system of government depends on the unhindered flow of impartial, scientifically-based statistical information to its citizens on a wide range of issues.

  • Informing political representation

    The U.S. Constitution mandates a decennial census of the population every 10 years for determining the allocation of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the states. This reapportionment in turn triggers the redistricting process by states to redraw the boundaries of congressional districts.

  • Informing business decisions

    Whether starting or expanding a business, exploring prospects for different occupations, anticipating demand for products, projecting the labor force, evaluating effects of trade patterns, targeting investments, forecasting energy prices, planning for hurricanes, funding pension plans, devising better ways to serve customers with disabilities, or finding suppliers—business owners and community members rely every day on data produced by the federal government.

  • Helping federal, state, and local governments take action

    Federal statistics provide high-quality, comparable information across the country. The American Community Survey (ACS), for example, provides key information that states and local governments use for disaster preparedness, economic development and workforce planning, public health surveillance, and regional transportation planning.

  • Evaluating federal, state, local, and private-sector programs

    Data on the condition of housing and finance to inform housing policy come from the ongoing American Housing Survey; statistics on the various types of energy used for heating, cooling, information technology, and other uses are provided by energy consumption surveys for commercial buildings and for residences.

HOW STATISTICS FUEL THE ECONOMY

Federal statistics are a sound national investment. The cost of federal statistical programs is a tiny fraction of overall U.S. federal spending. In fiscal year 2022, the combined budget request for all the federal statistical agencies and statistical programs amounted to about 0.1% of the total appropriated federal budget, equivalent to about $21 per U.S. resident per year.

Over the past 10 years, the revenue produced by industries that rely on government data has increased. See Chapter 2 . According to a recent Commerce Department blog the revenues of the government data-intensive sector grew from $393.6 billion to $750.7 billion between 2012 and 2022 (in 2022 dollars). See Figure 1. In this timeframe, this sector grew faster than the rest of the economy, increasing its share of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 50% from 1.9% to 2.9%.

Revenue of Government Data-Intensive Sector (in 2022 dollars) A vertical bar chart displaying the value $751 billion for the year 2022, with large blue bar and the value $394 billion for the year 2012
Figure 1: Revenue of Government Data-Intensive Sector (in 2022 dollars)

16
Federal Statistical Agencies and Units

There are 16 federally recognized statistical agencies and units located in cabinet departments and independent agencies whose activities are predominantly the collection, compilation, processing, or analysis of information for statistical purposes. This work is coordinated by the U.S. Chief Statistician.

Statistical agencies have unique responsibilities. Although statistical agencies provide objective and impartial information that informs policymakers, they should not advocate policies or take partisan positions that would undercut public trust and the credibility of the statistics they produce. In addition, recent statutory and regulatory changes have expanded the responsibilities of federal statistical agencies and other federal agencies to include advising departments on the use of statistical data for evidence-based policymaking.

Many of these federal agencies rely on data from state, local and tribal governments to produce national statistics. Increasingly, private organizations, such as commercial entities and nonprofits, provide important inputs to the federal statistical system. To responsibly make use of these products, federal statistical agencies must carefully examine the integrity of the data provided by these entities.

5
Principles

Federal statistical agencies are coordinated by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and are subject to government regulations and guidance, but their mission and contributions to the public good are best seen as resting on five well-established and fundamental principles, as follows:

Hover over a practice number for explanation.

1 Relevance to Policy Issues and Society: Federal statistical agencies must provide objective, accurate, and timely information that is relevant to important public policy issues.

Practices: 2 5 6 7 9

2 Credibility Among Data Users and Stakeholders: Federal statistical agencies must have credibility with those who use their data and information.

Practices: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3 Trust Among the Public and Data Subjects: Federal statistical agencies must have the trust of those whose information they obtain.

Practices: 2 3 4 5 7 8

4Independence from Political and Other Undue External Influence: Federal statistical agencies must be independent from political and other undue external influence in developing, producing, and disseminating statistics.

Practices: 1 2 3 4 6

5 Continual Improvement and Innovation: Federal statistical agencies must continually seek to improve and innovate their processes, methods, and statistical products to better measure an ever-changing world.

Practices: 3 4 5 6 7 9

10
Practices

In order to fulfill these five principles, 10 practices are essential for statistical agencies to adopt. These practices represent the ways and means of making the basic principles operational and facilitating an agency’s adherence to them.

  • 1. A Clearly Defined and Well-Accepted Mission

    A statistical agency’s mission includes its responsibility to: 1) produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical information; 2) conduct credible and accurate statistical activities; 3) conduct objective statistical activities; and 4) protect the trust of information providers by ensuring the confidentiality and exclusive statistical use of their responses.

  • 2. Necessary Authority and Procedures to Protect Independence

    To maintain its credibility and reputation for providing objective, relevant, and accurate information, a federal statistical agency must have authority to: 1) make decisions over the scope, content, and frequency of data compiled, analyzed, and disseminated; 2) select and promote professional, technical, and operational staff based on their professional skills and knowledge; 3) release statistical information, including accompanying press releases and documentation, without prior clearance regarding the statistical content of the release; 4) be able to make pledges to data subjects and other data holders that their data will be kept confidential and used only for statistical purposes; and 5) be able to meet with members of Congress, congressional staff, and the public to discuss the agency’s statistics, resources, and staffing levels.

  • 3. Commitment to Quality and Professional Standards of Practice

    A federal statistical agency’s commitment to quality and professional standards is the foundation of its credibility. An effective statistical agency devotes resources to developing and implementing standards for data quality and professional practice. To ensure the quality of its data collection programs and data releases, an effective statistical agency combines formal quality assurance programs with mechanisms and processes for obtaining both inside and outside reviews. An effective statistical agency keeps up to date on developments that may be relevant to its program. It also has policies and practices to instill the highest possible commitment to professional ethics amongst staff.

  • 4. Professional Advancement of Staff

    The long-term credibility of a statistical agency depends on the agency’s staff and the culture they build and maintain for quality and professionalism. Thus, a statistical agency should recruit and support highly qualified and dedicated staff for all aspects of its operations, including subject-matter experts in fields relevant to its mission (e.g., demographers, economists, statistical methodologists) who specialize in data collection and analysis, and other skilled staff such as budget analysts, procurement specialists, human resource specialists, computer scientists, and data scientists.

  • 5. An Active Research Program

    Statistical agencies need active research programs that are closely tied to their mission of producing relevant and high-quality statistics. Research is not an “optional” or “extra” activity that can be deferred whenever resources are tight. It produces the innovation that refreshes relevance. To maintain relevance for public and policy purposes, federal statistical agencies must identify emerging needs, look for ways to develop new information sources, and continually seek ways to make their operations more efficient.

  • 6. Strong Internal and External Evaluation Processes for an Agency’s Statistical Programs

    Statistical agencies should have processes in place to support regular evaluations of their major statistical programs and their overall portfolio of programs. Reviews of major data collection programs and their components should consider how to produce relevant, accurate, and timely data in the most cost-effective manner possible. Agencies should seek administrative and outside reviews not only of specific statistical programs but also of program priorities and quality practices across their entire portfolio. They should also consider ways to improve program cost-effectiveness.

  • 7. Coordination and Collaboration with Other Agencies

    An effective statistical agency actively seeks opportunities to conduct research and carry out other activities in collaboration with other agencies to enhance the value of its own information and that of the system as a whole. Such collaborations can serve many purposes, including efficiencies gained by standardization of concepts, measures, and classifications; augmentation of available information for cross-national and subnational comparisons; identification of useful new data sources and data products; and improvements in many aspects of statistical programs. In their new roles as the chief Statistical Officials for their departments, heads of the recognized statistical agencies and units should proactively collaborate with their departments in overseeing departmentwide data governance and use of data for evidence building.

  • 8. Respect for Data Subjects and Data Holders and Protection of Their Data

    To maintain a relationship of respect and trust with data subjects and data holders, a statistical agency should respect their privacy, minimize the reporting burden imposed on them, and respect their autonomy when they are asked to participate in a voluntary program to collect data. The statistical agency must also comply with all legal requirements to ensure that the data are used only for statistical purposes.

  • 9. Dissemination of Statistical Products That Meet Users’ Needs

    An effective statistical agency produces and disseminates statistical products that meet the needs of its users. A statistical agency should continually strive to obtain input from data users on its programs, products, and dissemination tools and methods. Understanding data users’ needs and how they use data products is critical for making an agency’s data services as relevant, accurate, timely, and accessible as possible. Individual persons, households, businesses, institutions, organizations, and government entities have provided the underlying source data for an agency’s statistics. Furthermore, the public has paid for the data collection, compilation, and processing. In return, the information created with such data should be accessible in ways that make it as useful as possible to the largest number of users—for decision making, program evaluation, scientific research, and public understanding.

  • 10. Openness About Sources and Limitations of the Data Provided

    A statistical agency must be transparent about how it acquires data and produces statistics and be open about the strengths and limitations of its data, including a full description of the purpose of the program; the methods and assumptions used for data collection, processing, and estimation; information about the quality and relevance of the data; analysis methods used; and the results of research on the methods and data.

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The 8th Edition of Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency supports the essential role of relevant, credible, trusted, independent, and innovative government statistics. Since 1992, this report has described the characteristics of effective federal statistical agencies. Government statistics are widely used to inform decisions by policymakers, program administrators, businesses and other organizations, as well as households and the general public.

What is CNSTAT?

The Committee on National Statistics is a unit at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine whose mission is to provide advice to the federal government and the nation grounded in the current best scientific knowledge and practice that will lead to improved statistical methods and information upon which to base public policy. CNSTAT seeks to advance the quality of statistical information, contribute to the statistical policies and coordinating activities of the federal government, and help provide a forward-looking vision for the federal statistical system and national statistics more broadly in service of the public good.