Overview of the use of big data for official statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean

ABSTRACT

In 2020 and 2021, the challenges related to the decline in the financing of statistical production and the cooperation of respondents was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This scenario led national statistical offices (NSOs) to accelerate consideration of alternative data sources to complement or even replace traditional survey data. In this context, the use of big data to produce statistics has become promising. The use of big data for statistics is already in practice in many parts of the Global North and has also been spreading rapidly in the South. Part of the success of this trend is due to the support of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Big Data and Data Science for Official Statistics (UNCEBD), in particular its four Regional Hubs for Big Data. To learn the extent of the use of big data for official statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations Regional Hub for Big Data in Brazil conducted a study of the practices of NSOs in the region. A very promising scenario was found regarding the use of big data from satellite imagery, web scraping and other big data sources, for applications such as the production of price statistics, land use and cover patterns and migration. [ FROM AUTHOR]