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What is the European Statistical System?

Eurostat does not work alone. Since the beginning of the European Community, it has been clear that policy decisions, planning, and implementation must be based on reliable and comparable statistics. To accomplish this, the European Statistical System (ESS) was built up gradually with the objective of providing comparable statistics at EU level.

The ESS is the partnership between the EU statistical authority, which is the Commission (Eurostat), the 'National Statistical Institutes' (NSIs), and 'Other National Authorities' (ONAs) in each EU country. These are responsible for the development, production, and dissemination of European statistics. This partnership also includes the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. For further details, please consult the  list of national statistical institutes and other national authorities designated by the countries to develop, produce, and disseminate European statistics (last updated: 18 June 2025). 

The EU and EFTA countries collect data and compile statistics for national and EU purposes. The ESS functions as a network: Eurostat's role is to lead the way in harmonising statistics  in close cooperation with the national statistical authorities. The work of the ESS focusses mainly on key EU priorities, but with the expansion of EU policies, harmonisation has been extended to practically all statistical fields.

The ESS coordinates its work with:

  • EU candidates
  • Commission services and agencies
  • the European Central Bank
  • international organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.

Common position on the future and strategic priorities

On 21 May 2025, the European Statistical System Committee endorsed the  ESS common position on the future and strategic priorities of European statistics. It defines the following key strategic goals of the ESS members for the next 10 years:

  • to remain relevant, trustworthy, and effective
  • to innovate and enrich products and services while reducing the administrative burden on respondents, and 
  • to support enlargement countries in the accession path to the EU and strengthen international partnerships.