On Current Challenges to Russian Statistics

Abstract

The article covers fundamental challenges to statistics that affect activities related to the collection, processing, analysis and interpretation of information about socio-economic phenomena and processes. The paper focuses on the staffing situation in scientific, educational and management spheres in modern Russia. According to the authors, there is currently a shortage of personnel with basic education in statistics. This is caused, on one hand, by the fact that the number of educational institutions that train these specialists, and in fact have relevant departments, is decreasing, on the other hand – by the process of aging and irreplaceable natural loss of scientists, teachers and statisticians. Decline in professional competence is closely linked to the low and declining statistical literacy of the population, which also leads to disorientation while solving household tasks.No less urgent challenge to contemporary statistics is the distrust of the population in statistical data, the accusation of deliberately concealing the truth and sugarcoating the reality. This reaction can result from the population’s lack of motivation to study and understand the actual processes taking place – given the availability of a wide range of statistical data and methodological explanations. This resulted, in the authors’ opinion, in a new challenge which has spread amidst almost unlimited access to the Internet for various population strata and the free formation of content in their social networks and pages. External and internal political manipulation is often carried out through the dissemination of fake information, which is also a serious challenge to the institute of state statistics.The article concludes that an impartial consideration of the challenges that domestic statistics is facings, development of directions for addressing the issues encountered and promotion of genuine achievements (with media coverage) allow to tackle the adverse impact on the public of misinformation and false information about socio-economic phenomena in the country as a whole and its regions.