Statistics not worth the paper they’re printed on

You may have seen news reports today about official population figures for 2008, which show that the country appears to be headed for a population of 70 million by 2029. Much as we admire the ONS for taking the government to task for spinning statistics, you have to wonder about how accurate these figures are, particularly given the laxness of border controls at the time.

Britain’s councils certainly don’t think much of the migration statistics. Many moan that they have far more people to house, educate and provide health facilities for than the “official” number. Several have complained about the new methods for calclulating immigration figures. Stephen Greenhalgh, leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, said:

“I didn’t think it was possible but this new method for counting migration is actually worse than the old one – which was also a disaster.”

In an effort to prove to the government that official statistics vastly underestimate their population, Slough Council hit on an excellent wheeze. They measured the town’s flow of sewage. Official figures showed that the town’s population was shrinking rapidly. In that case, the Council wanted to know, how come the volume of shit produced by its inhabitants had risen by 10 per cent?