Office for National Statistics

How the ONS is working towards measuring depletion of UK natural capital

As well as its more traditional social and economic statistics, the Office for National Statistics has been further improving its measurement of what the natural world provides to us through ‘ecosystem services’. This work is part of the wider ‘Wellbeing and Beyond GDP’ agenda to provide a complementary and more holistic view of national prosperity and well-being. In this post Ellen Clowser looks at how we’ve been extending our measurement of natural capital to estimate for the first time how these resources are being depleted.

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Bringing together UK health statistics

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Making government statistics accessible to everyone and coherent across data sets maximises the value they bring to important topics. The ONS has been working with the devolved administrations and health bodies to bring together and improve the statistical coherence of UK health data. Becky Tinsley shares an update on this work and explains how it will help create a deeper and wider understanding of health.

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Understanding our future population: Why projections are not predictions

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There are many reasons for wanting to know the size of the future population of the UK. How many school places will we need? How many hospitals? How many people will claim a State Pension? But looking into the future is challenging. As James Robards explains, our population projections take into account current and past trends, and as those patterns change, we adjust our projections accordingly.

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A voice for UK businesses – a milestone for our business insights survey

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Back in March 2020, life changed very suddenly as COVID-19 struck. In the first days of lockdown the ONS set up what it thought would be a temporary rapid business survey to assess how the pandemic was impacting UK businesses. Gemma Rabaiotti explains how four years and 100 waves of responses later, the Business Impact of Coronavirus survey– now renamed the Business Insights and Conditions survey – (BICS) has cemented its place as a timely and vital voice on the challenges facing businesses today.

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PODCAST: Year in Review 2023

It has been a radical and transformative 2023 for the Office for National Statistics, with work underway to future-proof its figures in a number of its outputs. National Statistician, Sir Ian Diamond, joins podcast host Miles Fletcher for the latest episode of Statistically Speaking, to look back over the past 12 months and discuss why change was needed. 

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