Modernisation projects

A characteristic of our increasingly globalised society is the need to produce ever more information in ever more areas, and this applies particularly to statistics and their application. Demographic statistics, for example, provide a framework for financial compensation between the cantons or for setting the level of federal subsidies of health insurance premiums for those of modest means. To take another example, the National Accounts enable us to report on the performance of the Swiss economy.

The efficiency of a modern statistical information system depends to a large extent on the way of data collection. For legal and financial reasons the use of existing systems is preferable to direct enquiries, which involve a burden on those responding to surveys.

In spite of budgetary restrictions the FSO has to respond adequately to an ever-increasing demand for information, and the reforms undertaken will assist in achieving this. The tendency today is towards integrated statistical systems, i.e. systems which break with the traditional single-subject approach. In future existing sources will be researched systematically in order to extract information for the required topics, e.g. employment or education. These data sources can be registers or surveys; alternatively a single survey will be used to produce information on a large number of topics, for example concerning income and living conditions.

The statistical modernisation projects are as follows:

• Application of the bilateral agreement with the EU on statistics
• General programme for business statistics (GUS)
• Harmonisation of registers
• Modernisation of the Federal Population Census (FPC)
• System of household and personal statistics (SHAPE)
• Rationalisation of the planning and production processes of a universal data warehouse
• Financing of new activities in terms of the given budgetary limitations

The information requirements of the 21st century will be met using the methodology and the technological means of this same 21st century. Our modernisation projects will thus result in a general and fundamental improvement in the Swiss statistical system.