The intention of this book is to give a picture of the complex material that has been published in the field of social and econornic statistics in Western Europe. Although there are many guides, bibliographies and reference books on special topics of this broad theme, a general overview has been missing. With this book I hope to fill this gap. The frame of reference is a scientific one: enabling and facilitating comparative social research on Western Europe. In some respect this book enlarges and updates the bibliography written by Peter Flora, "Quantitative Historical Sociology", pub lished in "Current Sociology" in 1975. In principle, this guide is an annotated bibli ography of the most important printed material in the field of official statistics. The legitimacy of such an approach lies in the fact that even today printed statistics are the most important form of dissemination of statistical results, although microcom puters, CD-ROMs and the Internet have changed this situation. In any case, a spe cial section on statistical databases is included for every country, describing the main databases of the statistical offices. Furthermore, the Internet address of each international or national statistical institute is provided in the introductory para graph. This enables the reader to get fast access to online databases and supple mentary online information on statistics via the Internet.
The book presents a nuanced narrative about statistical development in Africa since around the time of independence when emerging states needed statistics mainly to support their planning processes. It highlights challenges faced then, some of which have persisted, including institutional, organizational and technical challenges. These challenges manifest themselves in countries with different degrees of severity and are quite severe in post-conflict countries. Key statistical programmes to support statistical development in Africa in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s are presented