Where the official figures come from and how current they are

Data on a small state comes from a small number of producers, and knowing which produces what saves considerable time.

It also sets expectations about currency, because for a country this size some series are published with a substantial lag and some are not published annually at all.

The categories of producer

The national statistical office is the authority for domestic statistics — population and housing censuses, labour force data, price indices, trade statistics. For any figure describing the country itself, this is the source to prefer.

The regional central bank covers monetary, banking and balance-of-payments data for the currency union that Grenada belongs to. It is generally the best source for financial series, and its publications are usually more current than annual national volumes.

Regional bodies aggregate across member states, which makes them useful for comparison but means their national figures are usually drawn from the national offices rather than independently produced.

International agencies publish modelled and harmonised series that are internationally comparable. Comparability is their advantage and their limitation — harmonisation sometimes means a figure differs from the national one.

How current things are

A realistic expectation for a small state:

• Census data — reliable, detailed, and conducted at long intervals
• Price indices — usually the most frequent series, often monthly or quarterly
• Trade statistics — periodic, with a lag
• National accounts — annual, with a substantial lag, and revised
• Labour force data — irregular, and this is a common gap
• Sectoral data — variable, depending on the ministry

The practical implication is that the most recent figure available is often two or three years old, and that is normal rather than a sign of neglect. Statistical capacity is a function of population size, and a country of this scale cannot maintain the publication frequency of a large one.

Revisions

Economic series are revised, and revisions can be substantial in a small economy where a single large project or a single bad year moves an aggregate noticeably.

• Preliminary figures are marked as such and will change
• Revised figures supersede them and should be used
• Rebasing changes a series and breaks comparability with earlier published numbers
• Methodology changes do the same

The consequence for anyone tracking a series: a change between two published figures may be a revision rather than a real-world change, and the publication notes will usually say which.

Finding things

1. Start with the national statistical office for domestic data
2. Use the central bank for monetary and financial series
3. Use international databases for cross-country comparison
4. Check ministry publications for sectoral detail
5. Consult census reports for the most detailed social data
6. Note the publication date and the reference period, which are different

The last is worth emphasising. A report published this year may describe a period several years earlier, and citing the publication year as the data year is a common and avoidable error.

When data does not exist

For small states, some series simply are not produced. The honest responses:

• Say so rather than substituting a regional average without flagging it
• Use the nearest available year and state which
• Use a regional figure explicitly labelled as such where a national one is absent
• Do not interpolate and present the result as observed data

This matters because an unmarked regional average presented as a national figure travels onward and gets cited as fact, which is how incorrect numbers acquire a life of their own.

Frequently asked questions