GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretary General, Dr Carla Barnett Wednesday underscored the importance of statistics to regional development saying that the 15-member grouping is at the midpoint of implementing the 12-year Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics.

In a message marking Caribbean Statistics Day 2025, Barnett said that the occasion coincides with the culmination of the 2024-2025 Year of Statistics in Caricom, which marked the 50th anniversary of the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians.

Caribbean Statistics Day is being observed under the theme “Improving Lives through Statistics: Strengthening and Innovating Together” and the Caricom Secretary General said that during the year, the region placed renewed emphasis on Standards and Harmonisation and the integration of statistical systems.

She said key regional instruments have been successfully piloted and are now being institutionalised, including the Caricom Quality Assurance Framework, Caricom Code of Good Statistical Practices, and the Generic Statistical Business Process Model to guide the end-to-end lifecycle of all statistical activities.

“Caricom is at the midpoint of implementing the 12-year Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics, which provides a clear roadmap with mechanisms to strengthen statistical systems, ensuring that accurate and timely data inform decision-making.

”Caricom governments are reviewing the necessary legal and institutional frameworks, and seeking to provide the financial, technical and human resources to support the work of National Statistical Offices, including taking note of the increasing role for digital transformation and modernised statistical operation,” Barnett said.

But she acknowledged that “the journey ahead is as critical as the progress behind us” and in the community spirit which exemplifies Caricom, “a harmonised regional approach to statistics development will continue to be essential as we strive to fill data gaps and improve statistical standards across the region”.

”On Caribbean Statistics Day, we therefore recommit to strengthening national and regional statistical processes to ensure timely and accurate data for decision-making, in keeping with our theme this year,” she added.