The missing data

Why missing data is important

Data gaps tend not to get written about much, for the obvious reason that it's hard to report on numbers that don't exist. But if we don't gather and report data, we can't spot where services are failing; we can't track performance over time; and fundamentally, we can't improve people's lives.

Anna Powell-Smith, Centre for Public Data

Counting is fundamentally political. Decisions about what and who to count not only reflect unequal power, they are also a major driver of inequalities. Our failure to acknowledge and challenge these automatic tendencies means that we unthinkingly facilitate them. There are two major elements to the uncounted: that which is uncounted because of a lack of power, and that which is uncounted because of an excess of power.

Alex Cobham, The Uncounted

Gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play… It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.

Robert F Kennedy, speech at the University of Kansas, March 1968