Regional Statistics

Tasks, Goals and Contents:

The committee pursues the goal of improving the regional statistical data offering. This applies to the adaptation of the content of the data supply, to an adequate reaction to new information requirements of spatially oriented politics and research and, above all, to the further development of methods and procedures for regional statistical data collection and processing. The committee is mainly active in connection with the official statistics of the federal and state governments. Special importance is attached to the cooperation with the Association of German Urban Statisticians, since urban and regional statistics share the same small-scale research interest. Since the pace of innovation in official statistics is currently high, the committee is concerned to keep regional research interests in mind in all innovations and to intensify contacts between scientific, official, and urban statistics.

A central concern of the committee is a stronger cooperation between spatially oriented planning and research and regional statistics. In the area of tension between increasing information requirements and the growing importance of information on the one hand, and limited resources for the collection of official data on the other, it is important to highlight the need for information that is both spatially and factually in-depth, as well as to show innovative ways in which this need can be met. Particular attention should be paid to the use of new digital data, georeferencing, the use of quality-assured register data, and methods of sampling data for small-area questions.

Topic selection:

• Small area population statistics, census and regional population projections are the basis for regional studies. Population statistics are in transition due to the increased use of register data as well as small area techniques.
• Regional information systems as well as regional sustainability and environmental and well-being indicators are increasingly in demand. Innovative advancements and new developments will be monitored and presented.
• Georeferencing of official statistics data opens up a multitude of new insight opportunities, primarily through the possibility of linking official statistics data with geospatial base data and other relevant data with spatial reference.
• New digital data with spatial reference can be suitable for answering regional questions quickly and flexibly.

Delimitation: Regional statistics is a cross-sectional field of work in statistics. Therefore, there are numerous thematic intersections and points of contact with other committees and working groups, especially with the committees “Business and Market Statistics” and “Methodology of Statistical Surveys” as well as the working groups “Labor Market and Social Security” and “National Accounts, Welfare Measurement”.

Meeting dates:

The Committee meets once a year during the Statistical Week, as part of its “Regional Statistics Forum.”  In addition, it holds specialized regional statistics events as needed.

Founding Notice:
The Committee on Regional Statistics has been in existence since 1954.