New Challenges within Cross-Border Statistics

The Czech Statistical Office has participated in the cross-border statistics since 1990, with first experience in the Euro-region among the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany (Saxony). The CZSO has later participated in several bilateral or multilateral projects focused on cross-border statistics together with Germany, Poland, Austria and Slovakia. The cross-border statistics is not any one-way road. It gives possibility to exchange experience and knowledge among all participants. It should be an equal partnership of all participating countries and statistical institutions. The cross-border statistics is a specific part of the official statistics. It is inhibited by identical limits as well and it shares the same statistical tools and methods and it has the same goals and challenges like the statistics in general. The current statistics must respect two main restrictions: increasing budget and request to decline administrative burden. The consequential demand is to use more administrative data and data from usual statistical surveys. The new requests on statistics in general have to be applied to cross-border statistics as well. The cross-border statistics should reflect new economic development. The movement of finance, manpower, goods and services has been rapidly changing nowadays. The permanent demand has been described by environmental conditions and factors, but it also should reflect new trends concerning well-being. The future development of the cross-border statistics demands higher level of collaboration not only between neighbouring countries. It is very important to exchange and to concentrate experience and knowledge from many countries. This is a way to accelerate and to increase efficiency of the cross-border statistics in all countries.