(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The sexy job over the next ten years will be statisticians. This statement by the chief economist at Google was quoted as the Government of Guyana and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat on Wednesday jointly launched activities to mark the International Year of Statistics that is being observed under the theme `Statistics in Everyday Life; Let us Educate and Appreciate’.
Dr. Philomen Harrison, Project Director, Regional Statistics Programme at the Secretariat used the quotation to highlight the increasing importance of data gathering and dissemination in today’s world. Dr Harrison was speaking at the launch which was held at the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, and featured presentations on the importance of statistics in everyday life, as well as addresses by Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, CARICOM Secretary-General; Mr. Lennox Benjamin, Chief Statistician, Bureau of Statistics, Guyana and Dr Harrison.
The over-riding goals of the Year are to: increase public awareness of the power and far-reaching impact of statistics on all aspects of society; promote and nurture statistics as a profession, especially among young people; and promote creativity and development in the sciences of probability and statistics.
In their remarks at the hour-and-a-half long launch ceremony, Ambassador LaRocque, Dr. Harrison and Mr. Benjamin all made reference to the power and import of statistics in the organization of daily life as well as in the broader realm of sustainable economic and social development.
Ambassador LaRocque rallied members of the audience to refocus their thoughts and actions during this Year, on the importance of numeracy as one of the keys to unlocking creativity and innovation that was required to advance and reengineer the Caribbean Community in its commemoration of its 40th anniversary, also being observed this year.
Secretary-General LaRocque pointed to the Community’s focus on attracting young people to career opportunities in the field of statistics and noted that the Regional Statistics Programme had identified the core youth cohort as the pivot around which the Year of activities will revolve.
In his remarks, Mr. Benjamin commented on the momentum that statistics was generating, and pointed out that it was not surprising that an entire year was set aside to focus attention on this field. Underscoring that statistics should not be abstract and difficult to understand, Guyana’s Chief Statistician said priority should be placed on early engagement with youths during the observance of the International Year of Statistics. He also pointed to the imminent increased demand for statisticians and data analysts as employment opportunities.
For Dr. Harrison, using the International Year of Statistics to explain the “true meaning of statistics” to enable a better understanding and appreciation of its usefulness, and nurturing statistics as a profession among young people, should be high among the areas of focus.
The utility and application of statistics, she said, could be found in areas that were often taken for granted such as gambling, finding the genetic makeup of individuals or populations through DNA testing for forensic purposes, and determining ancestry and paternity.
Among the members of the audience at the launch were Ambassador Robert Kopecky, Head of the European Union Delegation to Guyana, other representatives of the Bureau of Statistics and staff members of the CARICOM Secretariat.
Apart from the joint launch in Guyana, activities were also scheduled to be held on Wednesday in the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica – where the University of the West Indies is a partner in the major event – Montserrat and the Cayman Islands to launch their activities. Other CARICOM Member States plan to have their launch at the same time as the release of their national census results which is a major statistical activity.
