One of the problems for countries in the former Soviet Union has been the quality of some of their statistics, particularly those dealing with energy.  

FCO funding

The FCO has been helping them sort out this dilemma by funding a training programme for government energy statisticians, run by the International  Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris.

One of the legacies of the breakup of the USSR was a state statistics service that focused on the production and output of gas, oil coal and so on, rather than equally important issues such as consumption and the need to improve energy efficiency.

Out of line

The figures they produced were also out of line with international practice, making reliable comparisons all but impossible.

The IEA, as well as regularly training statisticians, is also the world's leading source of energy statistics, and puts together regular reports on oil, gas, coal electricity and renewables, as well as on overall energy supply, consumption, prices and taxes.

Intensive training

Statisticians from the Russian state statistics service, Rosstat, went on the two week training session in Paris organised by the IEA, along with colleagues from other former CIS countries – the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan - who had inherited similar Soviet-era systems.

They were all greatly impressed by what they learned, finding practical solutions to problems that had been bothering them for years, and sharing experience with their former colleagues.

Spreading the knowledge

When they returned, the Rosstat statisticians set about spreading their knowledge across the Russian network. The IEA best practice manual was translated into Russian, and sent to all their collection points across country. And all their data collectors were trained in the new techniques.

An important by-product of improved statistics is better policy-making.  There are several ways this is affected: it means governments can tweak or even change policy; new accurate data means that it is easier to predict future trends; and because independent analysts now check the figures, there is much more public confidence all round.

Unexpected benefits

The project has had unexpected benefits.  The newly-trained statisticians  returned home so enthused by the new system that they are now spreading the word to other countries.  

Russia has now joined the US and Australia in encouraging countries who are members of the Association of South East Asian Nations to adopt similar international standards.

Read more about our policy on energy and climate change.