34th National Statistics Month Celebration

On September 20, 1990, former President Corazon C. Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation No. 647, “Declaring the Month of October of Every Year as the National Statistics Month”. The proclamation aims to promote, enhance, and instill nationwide awareness and appreciation of the importance and value of statistics to the different sectors of society; and to elicit the cooperation and support of the general public in upgrading the quality and standards of statistics in the country.

The theme of this year’s NSM Celebration is “Accelerating Progress: Promoting Data and Statistics for Healthy Philippines”. The theme emphasizes the importance of data and statistics in improving reports on health outcomes. It was reported through statistics that the Philippines had a fast and strong recovery from the economic decline caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to statistics there are factors that accelerated the country’s economic recovery, such as, increase in urbanization, growing middle class, digital transformation, gender equality and empowerment of women, and strong consumer demand supporter. And in addition to these, everyone took part in the country’s efforts towards a healthy Philippines.

Statistics play important role in this time of pandemic. Statistics are bases for policy decisions to address the socio-economic impact of COVID-19. Statistics will guide and support the government in navigating the pandemic towards socio-economic recovery. They are useful in analyzing the situation and in formulating health policies for reforms.

Some of the highlights of activities of this year’s observance of the 34^th NSM, from October 4-26, 2023, are the opening ceremony and wellness activity to be spearheaded by the Department of Health (DOH) on October 4, 2023 at SM City, Mandurriao, Iloilo City; the Statistics for Junior high school students to be spearheaded by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) on October 19, 2023; the Statistical Infomercial Contest to be hosted by the West Visayas State University (WVSU) on October  17, 2023; the Statistical Infographics Contest to be hosted by the Philippine Statistical Association, Inc., Region VI Chapter (PSAI 6) on October 13, 2023; the Photography Contest, open to all, to be hosted by the Department of Tourism Region 6 (DOT 6) on October 12, 2023;  the Statistical Essay Writing Contest for College Students to be hosted by the Commission on Higher Education Regional Office VI (CHEDRO VI) on October 16, 2023;  the E-Poster Contest for High School Students to be hosted by UP Visayas Statistical Society on October 14, 2023; the StatisTiktok for High school students to be hosted by UP Visayas Statistical Society on October 14, 2023; the Tree Planting activity to be hosted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on October 20, 2023; the 27^th Philippine Statistic Quiz (PSQ) Provincial elimination to be conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on October 25, 2023; and the closing and awarding ceremonies for the contest winners to be hosted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas – Iloilo Branch on October 26, 2023 at the RDC Hall, NEDA Building, Iloilo City. All activities will be seen livestream and posted in the facebook page “34th National Statistics Month-Western Visayas”. The contest schedules and guidelines are likewise posted in the same facebook page. In some of the events or activities in this celebration, the 34^th National Statistics Month-Western Visayas facebook followers may participate in the judging specifically in the area of “People’s Choice Award”.

Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic is still observed as there are many restrictions yet in doing face to face activities. Hence for health reasons many of the contests will be done virtually.

Everyone is enjoined to observed and participate in the celebration of the 34^th National Statistics Month.