I have noticed that nearly every week we have “today is XXXXXXX day”. And some are obscure.

Is it my imagination or are they increasing?

I tried to find some statistics on this and interestingly I found ……. “Today is Statistics Day”.

Statistics Day? It is so important we actually have not just Statistics Day but CARIBBEAN Statistics Day. And it is celebrated on 15th October and is the SEVENTH time it will be celebrated!

Perhaps we will even have a Cayman Islands Statistics Day just to be different.

So what do people actually do on Statistics Day?

I couldn’t find any statistics for this.

However I found a message from CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin Larocque that gave me some insight from the 2014 Caribbean Statistics Day.

He said, “The first observance of Caribbean Statistics Day arose out of a decision of the Thirty-Third Meeting of the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians (SCCS) which agreed to this Day being commemorated on 15th October 2009, as a mechanism to garner a greater profile for statistics in the Community and promote a culture of evidence-based decision-making in the Region. The commemoration is also a means of recognising the crucial role of statistics across a wide spectrum of activities – from daily decision-making of individuals, businesses and students to planning, policy-making and research among governments, academia, scientists and other users.

“This year’s commemoration of Caribbean Statistics Day follows from the conduct of the Second High-Level Advocacy Forum on Statistics in May 2014, and has as its theme: “Data Revolution for Sustainable Development in CARICOM – Designing and Operationalising a Framework for Statistics in the Post-2015 Development Agenda”.’

It’s really riveting stuff isn’t it?

I wonder if the restaurants and bars are going to put on a special menu and drinks? Will our local statisticians get a discount?

This particular day does not appear in the huge list of International Observance Days from the United Nations.

Even on this we have some strange ones. Have you heard of:

International Day of Happiness. (I want to celebrate that one – March 20)
International Day of Forests. Not celebrated here.
World Meteorological Day
International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members
International Day of Human Space Flight
World Book and Copyright Day
English Language Day (Would this be separated into English or US spelling and Pronunciation Day?)
World Intellectual Property Day
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
International Day to End Obstetric Fistula
“Vesak”, the Day of the Full Moon
Russian Language Day at the UN (in Russian) [What about all the other languages? How did Putin pull that one off?)
International Day of Yoga
International Day of Cooperatives (I used to get my milk in England delivered everyday from the Co-op)
International Day of Friendship (Sadly that one is dying out)
United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation
International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer
World Post Day
International Day of the Girl Child
World Day for Audiovisual Heritage
International Day of Rural Women
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (Why don’t we observe that one here?)
International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development
World Soil Day (Dirt?)
International Mountain Day (Here it is called Trashmore)

AND

World Statistics Day (October 20)

The one with the longest name is “International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims” (For short use IDFTRTTTCGHRVAFTDOV)

And those are only the ones instigated by the United Nations.

And by observing them does it make any difference?