'Statistics, a vaccine to protect democracy and combat the virus of disinformation'
The Bank of Italy actively contributes to increasing Italian and European statistical assets by processing and disseminating quality data to meet the growing information needs also connected to the performance of institutional tasks. With this in mind, the Bank is celebrating European Statistics Day, whose motto this year is 'Statistics, a vaccine to protect democracy and combat the virus of disinformation'.
Public authorities, operators, businesses and households all need reliable, accurate and timely statistics to orient themselves correctly in a complex and constantly evolving world.
Statistics play a central and long-established role in the Bank of Italy, which produces official data and indicators covering a wide variety of subject areas, from the banking and financial sector to public finance, from external transactions and international positions to the payment system. These tasks are assigned by the national legislation and the European Union and shared with the European System of Central Banks. Historically, the Bank of Italy was one of the first central banks to launch regular sample surveys of businesses and households to study their economic behaviour and financial conditions.
The results of its research activities, data collection and data processing are critical for the Bank's decisions and analyses in its official publications, which are shared with the public, the scientific community, Parliament and the Government. The Bank's large statistical datasets are freely accessible on its website: the data can be consulted in statistical publications, downloaded from online statistical databases, and commented on in various official publications. In 2020, a Research Data Centre was created to systematize and enhance access for the international scientific community to the microdata produced by the Bank of Italy.
Further information is available in the Statistics section of the website and the book 'La Banca d'Italia. Funzioni e obiettivi' (only in Italian).
