Data Mining and Official Statistics: The Past, the Present and the Future

Along with the increasing availability of large databases under the purview of National Statistical Institutes, the
application of data mining techniques to official statistics is now a hot topic that is far more important at present
than it was ever before. Presented in this article is a thorough review of published work to date on the application of
data mining in official statistics, and on identification of the techniques that have been explored. In addition, the
importance of data mining to official statistics is flagged and a summary of the challenges that have hindered its
development over the course of the last two decades is presented.