The term "social statistics" is interpreted in different ways. On the one hand, it is science, and on the other, practical activity. As a science, it is interpreted as a system of methods and techniques for collecting, processing, storing and analyzing information in numerical terms. This information carries data about social phenomena and processes in society.
As a practical activity, social statistics is a focus on the collection and generalization of numerical materials that characterize various social processes. This processing is carried out with the help of state statistics bodies or other organizations.
But these two directions do not exist independently, they are in constant relationship with each other. Previously, there was no special information processing system, it was only primitively fixed and had no method. In the process of complication of methods and techniquesregistration and generalization of data, it became necessary to improve the system for collecting, storing and processing information. Thus, over time, social statistics appeared.
Statistics itself has become a science for quite a long time, and its independent branches, such as agricultural statistics, industrial statistics, population statistics, etc., gradually emerged. The social one appeared one of the last.
Social statistics is responsible for the following tasks:
- analysis of the social sphere;
- characteristic of important patterns and trends in the development of social infrastructure;
- analysis of the level and living conditions of people;
- characteristic of the dynamics of changes in indicators;
- forecasting the likely course of development, etc.
Processes and phenomena that fill the social life of society are subjected to statistical analysis. It is carried out by applying specific methods of generalizing indicators that measure the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the object under study in numerical terms.
Socio-economic statistics is a scientific discipline that studies mass processes and phenomena in the social sphere and economy. It consists of several sections:
- standard of living of the population;
- demographic section;
- labor and employment;
- price and investment statistics, etc.
System of indicators of socialeconomic statistics reflects social life, trends in its change, etc. It includes the following:
- price dynamics;
- volume and cost of production;
- composition and population;
- standard of living of people;
- incomes and expenses of the population;
- material, labor and financial resources;
- productivity and wages;
- availability of working capital and fixed assets;
- macroeconomic indicators.
The calculation of these indicators is carried out using tools and methods from general statistics. It is important to be able to compare performance across space and time.
Socio-economic research requires fundamental knowledge and professionalism. It is not an easy task to transform ordinary statistics into a visual, concise, persuasive and imaginative form.
