Development of Small Area Estimationin Official Statistics

The author begins with a general assessment of the mission of the National Statistics Institutes (NSIs), main producers of official statistics, which are obliged to deliver high quality statistical information on the state and evolution of the population, the economy, the society and the environment. These statistical results must be based on scientific principles and methods. They must be made available to the public, politics, economy and research for decision-making and information purposes. Next, before discussing general issues of small area estimation (SAE) in official statistics, the author reminds: the methods of sampling surveys, data collection, estimation procedures, and data quality assessment used for official statistics. Statistical information is published in different breakdowns with stable or even decreasing budget while being legally bound to control the response burden. Special attention is paid, from a practitioner point of view, to synthetic development of small area estimation in official statistics, beginning with international seminars and conferences devoted to SAE procedures and methods (starting with the Canadian symposium, 1985, and the Warsaw conference, 1992, to the Poznan conference, Poland, 2014), and some international projects (EURAREA, SAMPLE, BIAS, AMELI, ESSnet). Next, some aspects of development of SAE in official statistics are discussed. At the end some conclusions regarding quality of SAE procedures are considered.