Qvintensen webbtidskriftOfficial statistics, such as the unemployment rate, can tell us much about the society we live in. But the public need a greater understanding of how these statistics are put together, what they count, and why, says Chaitra H. Nagaraja.
In our everyday lives, we encounter percentages, ratios and graphs that seek to explain our world. These figures might relate to measures such as the “poverty rate” or the “rate of inflation”. But while terms such as these are bandied about by journalists and politicians, no one really bothers to clarify what they actually mean and what they actually measure – and this severely limits our ability to assess claims made using them.
Take the “unemployment rate”, for example.
