Government publications and statistics

Government publications and statistics are reports and data gathered by government agencies and made available to the public. They can include census data, which counts people and households and provides population and household information.

Advantages

• Reliable and unbiased: the figures come from official counting rather than from a company trying to sell you something, so they are a trustworthy starting point.
• Usually free and quick to access: much of the information can be found on government websites or downloaded without paying.
• Detailed data: you can usually specify the data items you want, such as households in one local authority area, and the format, such as a spreadsheet or a table.

Disadvantages

• Can be out of date: data takes time to collect and publish, and a census is only carried out at intervals, so the figures may describe an earlier year.
• Charges may apply: some specific datasets cost money, so government statistics are not always free.
• Not directly about the business: the data describes the whole population, not one enterprise's customers, so it may not answer a question about that business's own buyers.

For example, a mobile dog-grooming service deciding which housing estates to visit could look at government figures for how many households are in each area and how many have no car. That helps the owner judge where people may struggle to travel to a groomer, but the figures cannot say how many households own a dog or what they would pay for a groom. They are useful background, not a report on the business's own customers.