Statistical Reporting in the States of the Former USSR

Abstract

A senior, recently retired, CIA analyst examines a range of issues relating to the availability and quality of economic statistics on the successor states of the former USSR. Among the developments covered are the legacy (in personnel and procedures) of the former USSR Goskomstat in the republican statistical committees; the availability of statistical series for the former Soviet republics for 1992, 1991, and the pre-1991 period; inconsistencies and sources of bias in statistical reporting that warrant heightened awareness on the part of geographers and other social scientists; and proposed methodological reforms in statistical reporting. 8 tables, 42 references.