Celebrating the establishment, development and evolution of statistical offices worldwide: A tribute to John Koren

This paper describes the establishment, development and evolution of national statistical offices worldwide. It is written to commemorate John Koren and other writers who more than a century ago published national statistical histories. We distinguish four broad periods: the establishment of the first statistical offices (1800-1914); the development after World War I and including World War II (1918-1944); the development after World War II including the extraordinary work of the United Nations Statistical Commission (1945-1974); and, finally, the development since 1975. Also, we report on what has been called a ``dark side of numbers'', i.e. ``how data and data systems have been used to assist in planning and carrying out a wide range of serious human rights abuses throughout the world''.