NEW ICstat WEBSITE

From December 2007 ICstat has restyled its web site.

ICstat is a non profit association with the aim of promoting statistical culture and policy making through cooperation programs at international level.
International experts can daily check the new openings at ICstat at the section "vacancies" (also indicated in the right column of the home page).

The website includes the following main sections:
HOME, ASSOCIATION, PROJECTS, EVENTS, PUBLICATIONS, NEWS, WORK WITH US, CONTACTS, SEARCH

Anyone interested in receiving weekly newsletters on "call for experts" can subscribe sending an e-mail to Eliana Marino

CALL FOR EXPERTS: Economists and Statisticians

Opportunity to be selected with ICstat within the European Commission's "Framework contracts"

The purpose of the framework contract is to enable the EC, increasingly through local delegations, to access the skills and expertise needed for project activities at short notice and with simplified procedures: normally selection is done within 1 month from the EC Request of Service without interviews.

On September 16, 2007 ICstat received a two-years extension to provide services for the European Commission under the Framework Contract EuropeAid/119860/C/SV/multi LOT 11

Lot 11: Macro economy, Public finances and Regulatory aspects, reference

List of Framework contractors as of Europeaid official document (ICstat reference at page 27)
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/framework_contract/beneficiaries/documents/2_2_list_firms_en.pdf

ICstat participate in a consortium led by the DFC SA Spain and, for each Request for Service (RfS), each member of the consortium submits a selection of CVs to the Team Leader. After an immediate evaluation of the CVs within the members of the consortium, the company which presented the CVs of the expert estimated as the best (or more than one in case different positions are required) is informed that its proposal has been selected and it will be presented at once to the EC.
Subsequently, the selected CV of the expert competes with the CV of the experts selected by the other consortia. It follows another quick competition where the judge is the EC; the winning company is informed accordingly. The whole process normally requires one month and in the case you are chosen by the EC you will sign a contract with ICstat as independent consultant.

Request for Services come out every single week!

If you are generally interested and available for an assignment, you can e-mail to ICstat an updated curriculum in the EC format of the European Commission ["4_2_3_cv_model_all_lots_en.doc" (application/msword)]

Following you will find few examples of recent RfS for Bolivia, Georgia, and Morocco and the contacts of ICstat Framework Contract Lot 11 Coordinator.

(read more >>)

Contact person

Mr. Giorgio D'Amore
ICstat, Viale Giulio Cesare n°92, 00192 Roma
ph:+39 06 3759 1834; fax:+39 06 3759 1859
e-mail mailto:gdamore@icstat.org%20

Development Data & Statistics

World Development Indicators 2007

World Development Indicators (WDI) publication is the World Bank's premier annual compilation of data about development. The 2007 WDI includes more than 900 indicators in over 80 tables organized in 6 sections: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links.

STATS at George Mason University

STATS.org

Since its founding in 1994, the non-profit, non-partisan Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) has become a much-valued resource on the use and abuse of science and statistics in the media. The goals are to correct scientific misinformation in the media resulting from bad science, politics, or a simple lack of information or knowledge; and to act as a resource for journalists and policy makers on major scientific issues and controversies.

STATS' work has been featured on NBC's "Nightly News," "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and ABC's "20/20" - and in print by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, US News and World Report, New Scientist, New England Journal of Medicine, and many other publications.

In 2004, STATS became an affiliate of George Mason University in Virginia.

STATS' present focus is on the following policy areas: education and child rearing, drug use and abuse, public health and disease, polls and surveys, gender issues.

STATS is a non-profit, non-partisan organization affliliated with The Center for Media and Public Affairs.

15th European Young Statisticians Meeting-EYSM September 10-14, 2007 Castro Urdiales, Spain

The European Young Statisticians Meetings are conferences organized every two years under the auspices of the European Regional Committee of the Bernoulli Society. The aim is to provide a scientific forum for the next generation of European researchers in probability theory and statistics. The meeting will gather about 40 participants coming from about 20 European countries. Participants are less than 30 years old or have 2 to 8 years of research experience. They are chosen by invitation only in a uniformly distributed way in Europe (2 participants per country). Every participant gives a talk and writes an abstract introducing his/her research subject. There are no parallel sessions.

Fo more information you can visit the following link http://kolmogorov.unex.es/~idelpuerto/15thEYSM

3rd Population and Household Census in Mozambique

From 1 to 15 August 2007, the National Statistical Institute of Mozambique (INE Mozambique) will carry out the 3rd National Population and Household Census.

Census History in Mozambique (in Portuguese)
Histórias dos Censos Em Moçambique
from www.ine.gov.mz

Um Censo da População e Habitação é a contagem da população e das habitações de um determinado lugar e momento. Portanto, com um censo pode-se saber o número de habitantes e de habitações existentes, assim como as suas características.

A República de Moçambique realizou dois Recenseamentos Gerais da População e Habitação. O primeiro foi em 1980 e o segundo em 1997. De 1 a 15 de Agosto de 2007 vai ser realizado o III Recenseamento Geral da População e Habitação.

Este Recenseamento foi precedido de um Censo Piloto, realizado em Outubro de 2006, que visava testar as metodologias, a organização e toda a logística da operação. Por isso, as pessoas que foram abrangidas no Censo Piloto serão recenseadas de novo no Censo 2007.

Em Moçambique os Censos são realizados de dez (10) em de(10) anos.

UK population grows to more than 60m

Sources: 2005 Mid-year population estimates: Office for National Statistics; General Register Office for Scotland and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Notes:

The average age of the population has been estimated using the median value. The median is the mid-point age that separates the younger half of the population from the older half.

Figures in the table may not add exactly due to rounding.

Population: by gender and age, mid-2005


The UK has an ageing population. This is the result of declines both in fertility rates and in the mortality rate. This has led to a declining proportion of the population aged under 16 and an increasing proportion aged 65 and over.

In every year since 1901, with the exception of 1976, there have been more births than deaths in the UK and the population has grown due to natural change. Until the mid-1990s, this natural increase was the main driver of population growth. Since the late 1990s, although there has still been natural increase, net international migration into the UK from abroad has been an increasingly important factor in population change.
(from statistic.gov.uk)

THE DEATH PENALTY IN 2006*

20,000 people are estimated to be on death row across the world

3,861 people were sentenced to death in 55 countries

1,591** prisoners were executed in 25countries; this fell from 2,148 prisoners executed in 22countries in 2005

128 countries do not execute people (having abolished the death penalty in law or practice)

99 of whom have abolished the death penalty in law for all ordinary crimes – the Philippines became the 99th in 2006

91% of all known executions took place in 6countries: China, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Pakistan and the USA

69 countries still use the death penalty

65 people were known to be executed in Iraq in 2006

3 had been executed in 2005

* Figures presented for executions and sentences include only those known to Amnesty International; the true totals are higher.

** This figure is higher than that published in the Amnesty International Report 2007 as it includes information received in the last few weeks.

Source: Amnesty International

Most common names among new-borns resident in Italy by sex and region

Source: ISTAT 2006, "Natalità e fecondità della popolazione residente: caratteristiche e tendenze recenti. Anno 2004"

At the following link demo.istat.it Istat disseminates the results of the survey on “Iscritti in anagrafe per nascita”, updated to 2004. The survey, carried out by Istat since 1999, allows the monitoring of the main demographic characteristics of the new-borns and of their parents.

Database on Italian University Students

The Italian Ministry of University and Research (Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca) has created a database containing about duration of studies, churn-rate, and mobility of students.
http://anagrafe.miur.it/

Human Development trends report produced by the UNDP

Gapminder is an interactive presentation of The 2005 Human Development trends report produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

60th Anniversary of the United Nations Statistical Commission

The UN Statistical Commission is the apex entity of the global statistical system. It considers and approves international statistical standards and programmes. Since 1947, the Statistical Commission has established a strong foundation for the Global Statistical System and initiated new programmes to address emerging issues
The UN Statistic Division regularly publishes data updates, including the Statistical Yearbook and World Statistics Pocketbook, and books and reports on statistics and statistical methods. Many of the Division's databases are also available on the site http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm , as electronic publications and data files in the form of CD-ROMs, diskettes and magnetic tapes, or as printed publications.

Italian "Camera dei Deputati" Statistics

At this link http://legxv.camera.it/deputatism/248/lista.asp
You can find statistics about "Camera dei Deputati" (Chamber of Deputies) composition by group, age, sex and education.

OECD Factbook: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics - online version

http://titania.sourceoecd.org/vl=1135163/cl=12/nw=1/rpsv/factbook/
third edition of a comprehensive and dynamic new statistical annual from the OECD with more than 100 indicators covering a wide range of areas

United Nations Common Database (UNCDB)

UNCDB provides selected series from numerous specialized international data sources for all available countries and areas.

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cdb/cdb_help/cdb_quick_start.asp

As of 1 May 2007, use of the Common Database will be FREE OF CHARGE. No subscription be necessary after that date, and all users can access the full range of data, metadata and various search tools without restriction.

A new system, UN data, will be launched in Summer 2007 and will provide improved access and searchability for UNSD databases. Click here for more information.

Gender Statistics Database

Based on gender issues relevant for the UNECE region, the advisory UNECE/UNDP Task Force recommended a set of Common Gender Indicators which are available through the UNECE Gender Statistics Database, central database for sex-disaggregated social data.

Direct access to the UNECE Gender Statistics Database

Most of the data available in the UNECE Gender Statistics Database have been supplied by National Statistical Offices through the network of Gender Statistics Focal Points.

Using Humor in the Introductory Statistics Course

at this URL

http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v10n3/friedman.html
you can find an article (by Hershey H. Friedman, Linda W. Friedman, and Taiwo Amoo) on Using Humor in the Introductory Statistics Course, Journal of Statistics Education Volume 10, Number 3 (2002).
This paper discusses reasons for using humor in the statistics classroom. Humor strengthens the relationship between student and teacher, reduces stress, makes a course more interesting, and, if relevant to the subject, may even enhance recall of the material.

first posting

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