Specificities and controversies of the Brazilian statistical system

Abstract

Since the beginning of the formation of the Brazilian statistical system, the production and dissemination of official statistics have always been linked to what the State needs to know about its resources. But with the development of society, official statistics now have another purpose. With the increasing volume of information demand, we have arrived at the current stage in which the system has to provide data not only for the government but for society as a whole. And this data provision has to be reliable, impartial and of practical value to society. This has become the new social purpose of the statistical system. At present, with Brazilian society living in a democratic state under rule of law, this work aims to analyze some of the bottlenecks which obstruct the fulfillment of the social purpose of the statistical system. These bottlenecks form part of the web of relationships between users, producers and State. The present work thus aims to consider the main problems affecting the relationship between producers and users; the system’s integration and coordination; and also the major controversies regarding the organic aspects of the institutional structure of the national statistical system.