(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Caribbean Statistics Day will be observed throughout the Region on 15 October 2009. To mark the occasion, the Regional Statistics Programme of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat has planned a series of activities under the theme `Better Statistics, Better Management, Better Development Outcomes’.

The activities, which began on Monday 12 October, include a series of seminars at the Secretariat that are geared at highlighting the important role statistics plays in key areas including climate change, the environment, health and population.

On Wednesday 14 October, the Secretariat will launch several online facilities including a Help Desk funded by the European Community (EC); the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded Online Tradsys; CARICOMInfo which is being established with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); CARICOM Census Online E-Portal, and a revamped CARICOM Statistics Website. The launch of the facilities will feature an interactive session.

Thursday and Friday will be Open Days at the Secretariat where schools, organizations and members of the public will have the opportunity to visit the Secretariat and participate in quizzes and a jingle competition and learn more about statistics through lectures and a display of publications.

The rationale for the observance of Statistics Day is to highlight statistics and its crucial role across a wide spectrum of activities – from daily decision-making faced by individuals, businesses, and students, to planning, policy-making and analysis and research activities of governments, academia and other users. Included in these activities is the use of statistics by the media in educating and informing the population of a country.

It is anticipated that the observance of Caribbean Statistics Day would lead to improved awareness of statistics at the national and regional levels; highlighting information on and insight into the process of production of statistics; promotion of the use of statistics in a wide variety of areas; increased credibility in the statistics produced; and establishment of new partnerships in the development of statistics.