Federalism and the quality of official statistics: Comparative lessons from Argentina, Canada, Germany, India, Nigeria, Switzerland and the United States

This paper examines how federalism shapes the quality and timeliness of official statistics. Treating statistical quality not only as a technical property but as a governance and institutional and political outcome, it analyses how the territorial organisation of the state affects the production of national statistical indicators. Using a comparative qualitative design, the study examines seven federations representing diverse configurations of legal authority, coordination mechanisms, professional norms, and subnational data ownership. The findings show that federalism does not inherently undermine statistical integrity. Rather, outcomes depend on whether federal statistical authorities have reliable legal and institutional access to data owned and generated by subnational governments. Where access to subnational data is weakly institutionalised or politicised, delays and vulnerabilities emerge. The paper's central contribution to the official statistics literature is to show that statistical system performance — as reflected in World Bank Statistical Performance Indicators — is best explained by the degree of institutional alignment between data ownership and statistical authority across levels of government. The paper concludes that the quality of the statistical system depends on institutional alignment between data ownership and statistical authority.