India’s statistical performance on the global stage                     

Why in the News?

India has been recently elected to the United Nations Statistical Commission which has raised the need to focus on India’s own official statistical system.

India’s statistical system:

1. The World Bank’s compilation of Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI) ranked India at 67 among 174 countries in 2019. 
2. Questions have been raised about the credibility of the statistics and the competence of the Indian official statisticians.
3. The results of statistical exercises, such as censuses and surveys, have been claimed to be of poorer quality when compared to data from administrative sources.

The SPI and dimensions:

1. SPI which assesses the performance of national statistical systems across 174 countries, is based on the assessment of 5 dimensions/pillars of performance: India’s score in 2019
   1. Data use- 80
   2. Data services- 88
   3. Data products- 60
   4. Data sources- 68.9
   5. Data infrastructure- 55
2. India’s overall SPI score stands at 70.4, placing it in the 67th rank among the 174 countries assessed. 
3. In Data use category,
   1. India performs well in measures assessing the comparability of estimates of child mortality, debt reporting, drinking water, and labour force participation (LFP).
   2. However, it lags by 20 points due to unavailability of comparable poverty estimates for the World Bank over the last 10 years (from 2017). This stems from a new comparability indicator introduced by the World Bank’s PovcalNet for poverty estimation.

An India assessment:

1. The pillar ‘Data Products’ is based on performance around the essential data required for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• India has conducted the Multiple Indicator Survey and Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey in the NSS 78th round (2020-21) and 79th round (2022-23), respectively, for collection of data on SDGs.

2. The pillar ‘Data infrastructure’ encompasses five sub-dimensions:
   1. Legislation and Governance- high scores as the national statistical legislation aligns well with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.
   2. Standards and Methods- moderate performance 
   3. Skills
   4. Partnership
   5. Finance- poor performance as India’s national statistical plan lacks full funding.
3. Under data sources, three indicators are evaluated:
   1. Censuses and surveys- 100/100 for censuses and 86.6/100 for surveys
   2. Administrative data- low score of 50 due to non-fulfilment of criteria of at least 90% registration of births under the Civil Registration System (CRS). 
   3. Geospatial data
4. In ‘Data services’ dimension, India gets full points for data releases and data services. However, enhancements can be brought in by improving
   1. Download options
   2. Providing more comprehensive metadata availability
   3. Open terms for data usage.

SPI score, its relevance

1. India’s performance in censuses and surveys is superior in comparison to administrative data.
2. A thorough examination of the SPI score is crucial as it facilitates
   1. Improvement and enhanced in international competitiveness
   2. Substantial rise in rankings can be achieved by identifying issues and establishing attainable goals.