You may often have heard that economic experts bring out the positive and negative sides of any policy or economic decision taken by the government. All these decisions are not taken just by guessing but are backed by solid statistical evidence, which is in the form of statistical data obtained from various resources.
The word statistics traces its origin from the Latin word ‘status’ which meant political state. With the passage of time, the meaning underwent significant changes and became an essential part of all the data collected. In modern times, the application of statistics is innumerable both in quantitative and qualitative studies.
Let us look at the features of statistics.
- It is expressed numerically.
- It is reasonably accurate.
- It represents the systematic collection of data.
- The data obtained from different sources can be compared with each other.
- The statistical data or analysis can be affected by a large number of factors.
Statistics plays a vital role in understanding the economic data such as the relationship between the quantity and price, supply and demand, economic output, GDP, per capita income of nations, etc.
The CBSE syllabus of economics for Class 11 consists of a section known as Statistics for Economics, which deals with the collection, organisation, and presentation of quantitative and qualitative information pertaining to various simple economic aspects systematically.
It also provides the students with the knowledge of appropriate statistical tools by which they can analyse and interpret the economic information, and draw meaningful conclusions from the data.