Nations Celebrate Second World Statistics Day By Giving Importance to Statistics With The Theme "Better Data, Better Lives"

by Therese Agcopra / Oct 21, 2015 02:50 AM EDT

Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Colin Wood presents one of the graphs he used during the Press Conferance on 1974 Crime Statistics.(Photo by Wesley/Keystone/Getty Images)

Nations are currently celebrating the second World Statistics Day. The first of this international celebration was held five years ago on Oct. 20, 2010. The theme for this year is "Better data, better lives."

The celebration of World Statistics Day was enacted through the United Nations General Assembly resolution 69/282, in which 130 member states agreed that every Oct. 20 of a year divisible by five would be designated as World Statistics Day, writes the New York Times Oct. 20.

The World Statistics Day joins the exclusive list of 126 U.N.-designation International Days this year.

Initially, the resolution that would later establish World Statistics Day was only sponsored by 72 member nations. Afterwards, an additional 25 sponsors approved the resolution. With this number, 50.2 percent of the U.N.'s 193 member states sponsored the passing of the resolution.

PR Newswire reports Oct. 16, the Census Bureau has created an interactive inforgraphic compiling various statistics about people, places and economy of the United States in celebration of World Statistics Day.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon issued a message to celebrate World Statistics Day in which he emphasized that "good data and statistics are indispensable for informed decision-making by all actors in society."

He adds, "As countries and organizations embark on implementing the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, reliable and timely statistics and indicators are more important than ever."

"We need to ensure that everyone is counted, especially the most poor and vulnerable. No child's birth shall remain unregistered. No incidence of disease, no matter how remote the location, shall remain unrecorded. We need local statistics to ensure that every child has access to education and we need global statistics to monitor the overall effects of climate change."

Secretary General Ban Ki Moon also addressed the need for a "data revolution" and the importance of strengthening our "statistical capacity".