BRICS states determine general concept of statistical methodology

RIO DE JANEIRO, November 20. /TASS/. Countries of the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are developing the single statistics methodology. Their statistics experts met in Rio de Janeiro to discuss comparability of the social sphere indicators, said Federal State Statistics Service director Aleksandr Surinov who headed the Russian delegation. The BRICS statistical agencies chiefs supported the Russian proposal to calculate the social indicators based on the recognised international systems and methods, for example, adopted in the UN. “The Rio de Janeiro meeting participants focused on the methods of formation of maximally comparable social statistic indicators, in other words, what we mean by such notions as poverty, unemployment, how we calculate mortality and birth rate,” Surinov said. He said that the five countries’ statistical agencies currently co-operate on a permanent basis, which allows them to prepare for the BRICS summit-level meetings statistical information booklets containing macroeconomic indicators, data on the situation in the industry, agriculture and transport. “Statistics should have the common language, and BRICS are steadily pursing this goal, despite the objectively persisting differences between our countries,” Surinov said. “The results of the Rio de Janeiro meeting will be maximally taken into account in the statistical digest issued for the next BRICS summit that will be held Ufa [capital of Russia’s Bashkortostan republic in the Volga area] next July,” he said. Read more