Why is it in the news?

The World Bank’s compilation of Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI) ranks India 67 among 174 countries in 2019.

More about the news

• Recently, questions have been raised about the credibility of India’s official statistics and the competence of statisticians. Further, statistical methods used for generating data are facing scrutiny.
• Some claim that administrative data may be of higher quality compared to data from surveys and censuses.

About Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI)

• SPI assesses five dimensions: Data use, Data services, Data products, Data sources, and Data infrastructure.
• India’s 2019 SPI score: 70.4, with lower scores in ‘Data use’ and ‘Data products’.
• ‘Data use’ is influenced by how different sectors utilize statistics, and India performs well in some areas but loses points in poverty estimation.
• ‘Data Products’ are crucial for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and India is taking steps to improve data collection for SDGs.
• ‘Data infrastructure’ scores moderately due to issues in ‘Standards and methods’ and poor performance in ‘Finance’.
• India’s ‘Finance’ category receives a low score due to insufficient funding.
• ‘Data Services’ score well but have room for improvement in online accessibility and metadata availability.
• India performs well in ‘Data sources,’ particularly in censuses and surveys.
• India excels in adopting certain standards but falls short in adopting others, affecting its overall score.
• Administrative data lags due to low birth registration under the Civil Registration System (CRS).

 SPI Score and Relevance

• SPI scores highlight India’s strengths in censuses and surveys compared to administrative data.
• Improvement in key pillars could significantly boost India’s ranking.
• Proactive engagement with the World Bank is needed to strengthen the SPI.

 Specific Recommendations

• Consider using “Vital Statistics of India” for birth and death registration estimates.
• Work on improving ‘Data products,’ ‘Data use,’ and ‘Data infrastructure’ to enhance India’s ranking.
• Enhance online accessibility, metadata availability, and open terms for data usage in ‘Data Services.’