This year marked the 20th anniversary since the Statistics Office of Malta was set up as the NSO. Before the NSO, the Central Statistics Office was founded in 1947 as a response to WWII. 
Given the occasion, and the rich history of NSO, the NSO embarked on a project to produce a video about its biography which was aired on National TV. 
 
You can watch the video on the following link https://youtu.be/XungUJsksfI 

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The Government has appointed Markus Sovala as Director General of Statistics Finland for a five-year term starting from 1 March 2021. Before joining Statistics Finland Dr Sovala acted as Economic Policy Coordinator at the Ministry of Finance in Finland. Having worked as Director General at Statistics Finland for nine years, Marjo Bruun retired at the end of January.

“The strategic importance of information has grown due to digitalisation because more operational benefits are now derived from it. Statistics Finland is a major actor in the field of information. It is very interesting to start leading a team of top professionals. Enterprises have plenty of information in their possession – hopefully we will find common interests, says Dr Sovala.”

Before Statistics Finland Sovala coordinated economic policy at the Ministry of Finance in Finland. Prior to this, Sovala has worked as Leader of Change at the Uusimaa Regional Council, as Director General of the Economics Department and as Deputy Head of the Budget Department at the Ministry of Finance, as Senior Adviser at the World Bank and as Programme Director at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Statistics Finland is an agency in the administrative sector of the Ministry of Finance whose task it is to combine data into statistics and information services for the use of citizens, enterprises, public administration and research. Statistics Finland aims to develop from a producer of statistics to a provider of influential information and support more efficient use of reliable information. Around 800 experts in various fields are working at Statistics Finland.

We are glad to inform you that the Publications Office of the European Union is organising the first EU Open Data Days that will take place online from 23 to 25 November 2021. The EU DataViz 2021 will be happening from 23-24  under the EU Open Data Days.

The second edition of EU DataViz will go one step further, extending its concept to ‘open data’. This Conference will act as a bridge of two topics that are strongly interlinked: open data and data visualisation. This conference will bring together experts and users of (open) data, to explore, evaluate and explain how visualisation can provide answers to some of our questions, and how to find, understand and share insights into the vast amounts of data around us.

We would like to hear more from you!

The opinion from the community of practice is very important for the future shape of the Conference since it is expected to support the EU public sector to better serve citizens.

The goal of this survey is to collect and understand the needs and interest for the EU DataViz 2021 Conference in order to better shape the agenda to our needs and expectations

Link to the survey open until 5 April

It will be an online event, free of charge and open to external participants. To get an idea about the first edition of the conference please check the website EU DataViz 2019

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Turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays fell in the retail sector by 0.9% in nominal terms in January 2021 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 4.9% compared with the previous month. The economic sectors were affected to varying degrees. These are some of the findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

Real turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays fell in the retail sector by 0.5% in January 2021 compared with the previous year. Real growth takes inflation into consideration. Compared with the previous month, real, seasonally adjusted retail trade turnover registered a decline of 5.3%.

Non-food sector with a severe loss in turnover

While retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco recorded an increase in nominal turnover of 13.7% (in real terms +13.9%) the non-food sector registered a nominal minus of 10.4% (in real terms –10.1%). The sectors “other goods (clothing, chemists, watches and jewellery)” (–19.2%; in real terms –18.9%), “cultural and recreation goods in specialised stores” (–14.6%; in real terms –15.1%) as well as the sector “other household equipment, textiles, DIY and furniture” (–7.2%; in real terms –7.4%) were particularly affected by the measures introduced by the authorities to contain the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In contrast, the sectors “information and communication equipment” (+32.3%; +41.0% in real terms) and “market stalls, retail sale via mail order houses or via internet” (+21.8%; + 21.9% in real terms) were able to report positive turnover figures.

Adjusted for sales days and holidays, the retail sector excluding service stations registered a 1.0% growth in nominal turnover in January 2021 compared with January 2020 (+1.3% in real terms). The result for service stations was a loss of turnover of 22.2% (in real terms –16.4%).

Excluding service stations, the retail sector showed a seasonally adjusted decline in nominal turnover of 5.1% compared with the previous month (in real terms –5.5%). Retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered a nominal minus of 1.2% (in real terms –0.9%). The non-food sector showed a minus of 11.0% (in real terms –11.6%).

The consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.1% in January 2021 compared with the previous month, reaching 100.1 points (December 2020 = 100). Inflation was –0.5% compared with the same month of the previous year. These are the results of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

The 0.1% increase compared with the previous month is due to several factors including rising prices for hotel accommodation. Fuel also recorded a price increase, as did second-hand cars. In contrast, prices for air transport and clothing and footwear decreased, the latter due to seasonal sales.