Distrust in Official Statistics:

from a Viewpoint of Comparative History

SATO Masahiro

KEYWORDS: statistics, distrust in official statistics, comparative history

There is increasing distrust in official statistics across the Japanese people. This distrust originated from being uncovered inappropriate procedures of making statistical data in a survey called 'Maitsuki Kinro Tokei Chosa' literally meant 'Monthly Statistical Survey of Labour', carried out by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

The aim of this paper is to present a framework for understanding the problem from a viewpoint of comparative history.

For fulfilling this aim this paper focuses on the following three points. Firstly, the reasons for desiring numerical data in every state, including from ancient to modern and from west to east, not to say including Japan, is explored. Secondly, the historical experiences of western European states are examined. In these countries, some citizens attempted to make and use statistical data by themselves during the late 17th to the early 18th centuries. Consequently statistics became regarded as resources belonging to not only the states but also the civil societies. Thirdly, contrary to the case of western Europe, Japan's experience tells us that there were no citizens who made and use statistical data by themselves. The statistical data in Japan is thus belonging only to the state.

These findings tell us that even in modern Japan data of the official statistics tend to be practically regarded as a 'private property' of bureaucrats, in spite of the Act of Statistics 2007 which declares statistical data as the public proprieties.

This paper concludes that the problem mentioned above is derived from this sense of the bureaucrats appeared in procedures of making statistical data.