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Statistics Explained

your guide to

European statistics

Compact guidesWhat language options are available?

Statistics Explained is currently only available in English.

Many non-English speaking users make use o online translationtools such as Google ranslate to display Statistics Explained pages

in other languages.

Statistics Explained and Eurostat publications

Since it was created in 2009, the web-based articles on Statistics Ex-plained have gradually replaced several o Eurostats publications.Summaries and analyses o statistics can be much more rapidly, easilyand efciently released through Statistics Explained than via tradi-tional paper publications.

Some books, like European Busi-ness acts and fgures have beencompletely replaced by a set o Sta-tistics Explained articles. However,Eurostat will keep on producingtraditional publications in paperand/or PDF ormat, especially inthe ollowing areas:

short publications analysing

the reshest statistical dataavailable (Statistics in Focusseries);

methodological publications or a small, specialist audience(Methodologies and working papersseries, only available in PDFormat);

a limited number ofagship publications, such as the Eurostatyearbook. Note that the ull content o the Eurostat yearbook isalso available on Statistics Explained, where specic articles maybe updated more requently and outside o the annual periodic re-

lease o the paper publication; a number o ree-o-charge pocketbookson main statistical top-

ics, or reerence and marketing purposes.

ISBN 978-92-79-18764-3;

doi:10.2785/11240

European Union, 2011

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The content o Statistics Explained

Statistical articlesare the core o Statistics Explained. StatisticsExplained includes articles across the complete range o statisti-cal subjects covered by Eurostat including social and economic

statistics, as well as an enormous range o more specialised sta-tistics. Te most commonly accessed articles in 2010 related tounemployment, migration, tourism, GDP and national accounts,and various subjects concerning the environment.

Te typical statistical article starts with an indication as to thereshness o the data used, a brie introduction, and a table o con-tents. Te main body o each article is composed o the ollowingparts:

main statistical fndings these highlight the most importantstatistical results, both through text and through a set o tablesand graphs; occasionally maps or diagrams are also used tohelp portray the inormation being presented.

data sources and availability this briey describes how thedata were obtained (or example, through which statisticalsurvey); this section may also highlight the legal basis or the

collection o the statistics, provide some background metadata andgeneral explanations o the data and terminology used, as well ashighlighting some o the potential limitations and problems thatmay be associated with the use o the data set.

context this section provides inormation on the uses that maybe made o the data, in particular providing links to the policycontext behind the statistics that are being presented explainingthe role the statistics aim to serve and their importance or societyas a whole or or particular groups.

urther Eurostat inormation this sect ion provides direct linksto more detailed or more recent inormation on the Eurostat web-site.

external links the articles generally close with a set o hyperlinksto other trustworthy bodies.

categories at the end o each article and many o the glossary/background pages there are a set o hyperlinks that provide rapidaccess to related articles that may well be o urther interest to thereader.

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Getting behind the fgures

Many users not only want to view data, but they also wish to beinormed about their exact meaning. Statistics Explained containstwo types o special web pages in the orm o a glossary o statisti-cal terms and more detailed methodological inormation through

background pages.

Glossary pages

Glossary entries appear as hyperlinks within statistical articles they allow the user to open a new page that contains a simpleexplanation o the glossary term and then to return to the originalarticle. Some glossary entries are ollowed by a set o hyperlinksor more detailed or related inormation.

Tere are a large number o glossaries ocused on particular sub-jects or groups o inormation, or example:

a set ostatistical glossariesor the main statistical themes (orexample, population and socia l conditions), as well as a numbero more detailed subject specifc glossaries (or example, living

conditions and social protection).

abbreviationsused within Statistics Explained, see http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Abbreviations

geographical areas, or example, ASEAN, DAC or theAndean pact are detailed in the geography glossary, seehttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Geography_glossary

abbreviations and specialnames that are used in relationto the European Union, itspolicies, institutions andtreaties, or example, the EU2020 strategy, the EIB, orthe CAP are grouped underthe category heading o EUinstitutions glossary, seehttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu / s t a t i s t i c s_ex p la in ed/index.php/Category:EU_institutions_glossary.

Access to the ull range o glossary items is available at:http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Glossary.

Background pages

Tese pages are designed to provide comprehensive meth-odological inormation, on subjects such as particularstatistical indicators, statistical methods or classifcations.Background articles look deeper into the subject presentedand have no predefned structure as they are diverse in na-ture. Examples include articles on European sector accounts,the agricultural census, and the methodology used or theharmonised indices o consumer prices (HICP).

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Abbreviationshttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Abbreviationshttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Abbreviationshttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Abbreviationshttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Abbreviationshttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Abbreviationshttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Abbreviationshttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Geography_glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Geography_glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:EU_institutions_glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:EU_institutions_glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:EU_institutions_glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:EU_institutions_glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:EU_institutions_glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:EU_institutions_glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Geography_glossaryhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Category:Abbreviations

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Eurostats websiteEurostat provides users with ree access to all o its databases, aswell as PDF versions o its publications; these are available romEurostats website. o discover more, open a web browser and goto the Eurostat homepage, at: ec.europa.eu/eurostat.

How to fnd StatisticsExplained?

Statistics Explained is available at:http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained

For those already amiliar with Eurostats website, StatisticsExplained may be reached rom various web pages including theEurostat homepage. Just look or the icon.

Who should visit Statistics Explained?

Te main objective o Statistics Explained isto reach as broad an audience as possible. It isaimed at experts rom academia or business,who are not amiliar with Eurostats website,while at the same time presenting inormationin a simple and easy to understand ashion sothat it also appeals to the general public. Statis-

tics Explained should also appeal to those whocan not or do not want to use online databases.It is thereore useul to a broad array o users,or whatever purpose: study, work, discussing orsharing inormation with others, or curiosity.

Navigation and collaborative tools

Tere is a permanent navigational tool provided on the le-hand sideo each screen within Statistics Explained, this provides useul toolsto navigate, as well as links to other parts o Eurostats website, the EU

bookshop and a toolbox o utilities.Along the top o each page there is a wide range o useul collaborativetools that allow interaction through social media networks, providingopportunities to share, blog, cite, print, bookmark or send articles.Tese built-in tools (such as witter or Facebook) allow users to com-municate their ndings to colleagues, riends or amily.

Searching or inormation on Statistics Explained

An easy way to nd a particular article in Statistics Explained is

through a standard search on the Internet using a ew keywords thechances are high that the article wil l appear near the top o the rank-ing o results.

Statistics Explained also has its own search acility that is alwaysavailable in the top le-hand corner o each page.

Furthermore, Statistics Explained pages are included when usersmake a search or particular keyword(s) on Eurostats website; theresults are returned above a list o hyperlinks to related publications,

datasets and metadata.

Navigating around Statistics

Explained

Besides a search on keywords, thereare two other navigational tools withinStatistics Explained that may help us-ers nd an article: these are statisticalthemesand categories.

Te hierarchy o statistical themes(and subthemes) reects the thematiclogic o Eurostats website, where dataand publications are grouped underone o nine headings, rom General

Data are available FREE OF CHARGE

on the Eurostat website:

ec.europa.eu/eurostat

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostathttp://ec.europa.eu/eurostathttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explainedhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explainedhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explainedhttp://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

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and regional statistics, through to Science and technology. Tereis a hyperlink to a listing o all themes and subthemes that is avail-able in the le-hand column o each Statistics Explained page.

In a similar way, categoriesare used on Statistics Ex-plained or logical groupingso articles in a less ormalmanner. Categories are notclassied in a hierarchyand new categories arecreated i they are useulor grouping sets o relatedarticles. Tere is a hyperlinkto an alphabetic listing o

all categories available inthe le-hand column oeach Statistics Explainedpage. Furthermore, at thebottom o statistical articlesand glossary pages thereis a list o categories towhich the particular pagebelongs; these hyperlinks

can provide a useul tool ornding related inormationin other articles.

What is Statistics Explained?

Statistics Explained is a new tool that provides easy access to Eu-rostats statistical inormation. Working in a similar way to Wiki-pedia, it is easy to use and easy to navigate. Statistics Explained is arich source o inormation or the ul l-range o statistical subjectscovered by Eurostat.

Statistics Explained is:

an encyclopaedia o European Union statistics;

a portal to urther inormation or occasional and or regularusers alike;

a statistical glossary.

Statistics Explained makes extensive use o hyperlinking andsimilar possibilities oered by the Internet to provide seamless ac-cess to inormation at various levels. It contains statistical data andexplanations, but also provides links to the latest gures and allkind o relevant background inormation which may be useul tounderstand the statistics presented.

Where can it be ound?

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained

How is the inormation on Statistics Explained

presented?

Statistics Explained is made up o highly interlinked web pages.Tere are essentially two basic types o pages on Statistics Ex-

plained: statistical articles that provide inormation on a particulartopic, and glossary/background pages that provide more detailed,technical descriptions o an indicator or specic data collection.More details on how to navigate the wealth o inormation and onthe general structure o statistical articles is provided overlea.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explainedhttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained