Official Statistics Sources: BLS, Census, Eurostat, ONS and More

Official statistics are produced by public bodies: national statistical offices such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, the UK Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada; central banks such as the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank; and international agencies such as Eurostat, the World Health Organization and the International Telecommunication Union. Each publishes its methods, defines its terms and releases data on a known schedule. The best source for a figure is the producer whose core job is measuring that subject.

This guide lists the official producers that appear most often in Statlyst datasets, what each is good for, and where to see its figures on this site.

What makes a source official

Three features separate official statistics from other data:

• A defined population and method. The release states who was counted and how, usually with a probability sample, a census or administrative records.
• A regular schedule and revisions. Monthly and quarterly series are revised as more data arrive, and the producer says so.
• Public documentation. Definitions, questionnaires and technical notes are published alongside the numbers.

Statlyst marks each source on a statistics page by type: official statistics, research, or industry report. Our methodology explains how we choose between them. Where an official series exists, we prefer it.

United States producers

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

The BLS measures employment, pay, prices, working arrangements and how people spend their time. On Statlyst it is the source for:

• Time use: the American Time Use Survey shows 35% of employed Americans did some or all of their work at home on days worked in 2025, and that people aged 15 and over slept an average of 9.03 hours a day.
• Work arrangements: the Contingent Worker Supplement counted 11.9 million independent contractors in July 2023.
• Business survival: Business Employment Dynamics data on new establishments.

Good for: economy-wide labor measures that cover all workers, not only office staff.

U.S. Census Bureau

The Census Bureau counts people, households and businesses. Statlyst uses its releases for:

• Retail: $340.2 billion in ecommerce sales in Q2 2026, seasonally adjusted, and the 17.1% ecommerce share of total retail.
• Housing: the 65.5% homeownership rate in Q3 2026.
• Business: 531,728 business applications in August 2026 and the 19.8% of firms using AI in spring 2026.
• Household wealth: the $204,900 median household wealth in 2024.

Good for: counts and shares of businesses and households, and official retail and housing series.

Federal Reserve

Three parts of the Federal Reserve System appear on Statlyst, and they measure different things.

• Board of Governors. Publishes the G.19 consumer credit release (for example $1,352.4 billion in revolving credit in August 2026), bank delinquency and charge-off rates, the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, and the Survey of Consumer Finances. The household survey supplies figures such as the 20% of US adults who did gig work in the month before the 2024 survey.
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Publishes household debt totals based on credit report data, such as $18.8 trillion in total household debt at the end of Q2 2026.
• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Hosts research and series such as the 60.8% generative AI adoption rate among US adults aged 18 to 64.

Good for: debt, credit, payments and household finances. Check which Fed release you are citing, because the measures differ. Our guide on how to cite a statistic shows how the Board and New York Fed credit card figures diverge.

Other US agencies

• National Center for Health Statistics (CDC). Runs the National Health Interview Survey and health examination surveys. Statlyst uses it for mental health, obesity and sleep figures.
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Reports on the credit card market, including $160 billion in interest charges in 2024.
• Federal Student Aid. Publishes federal loan portfolio data, such as 42.3 million federal loan recipients as of June 2026.
• U.S. Energy Information Administration. Tracks energy use and vehicle sales shares, such as the 6% battery electric share of new light-duty sales in early 2026.
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. Reports complaints and losses submitted to it, including $20.877 billion in reported losses in 2025. These are reported cases, not a survey of all victims.

UK, Canada and Australia

Office for National Statistics (ONS)

The ONS is the UK's largest producer of official statistics. On Statlyst it supplies:

• 28% of working adults in Great Britain working hybrid in early 2025, with breakdowns by education and income.
• The 2.0% sickness absence rate in 2025.
• 4.5 million fraud incidents in England and Wales in the year to June 2026, from the crime survey.
• The 28.8% online share of retail sales in September 2026 and the £273,000 average house price.

Note that some ONS series cover the UK, some Great Britain, and some England and Wales. Keep the geography in your citation.

The Health and Safety Executive is another UK official producer used on Statlyst, for work-related stress statistics.

Statistics Canada and the Australian Bureau of Statistics

Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey reports that 9.8% of employed Canadians worked hybrid in May 2026, and its national balance sheet puts household debt at 176.4% of disposable income in Q2 2026. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that 36% of employed Australians usually worked from home in August 2025.

Good for: national comparisons with US figures, provided the definitions match.

Europe

Eurostat

Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union. It collects data from national offices under common definitions, which makes it the main source for comparing EU countries. Statlyst draws on its household survey of ICT use for:

• 94% of people aged 16 to 74 using the internet in the three months before the 2025 survey.
• 32.7% using generative AI tools in 2025, ranging from 48.4% in Denmark to 17.8% in Romania.
• Enterprise AI use, house prices and tourism nights.

Good for: country rankings within the EU. Most of its household figures cover people aged 16 to 74, which should appear in any citation.

European Central Bank

The ECB publishes payment statistics and consumer payment studies. On Statlyst: 872.7 million payment cards in the euro area at the end of 2025 and the 52% of point-of-sale payments made in cash in 2024.

International agencies

Agency	Strongest on	Example on Statlyst
World Health Organization	Global health estimates	1.2 billion people living with a mental disorder in 2023
International Telecommunication Union	Internet and mobile access	About 6 billion internet users in 2025
UN Tourism	International arrivals	1.52 billion arrivals in 2025
International Energy Agency	Energy and electric vehicles	415 TWh used by data centres in 2024

International figures are often modeled estimates that combine national data of uneven quality. They are the right choice for global totals and regional comparisons, and national sources are usually better for a single country.

Choosing between official sources

When two official producers publish figures on the same topic, pick by fit:

• Match the population. For all US workers, use the BLS; for remote-capable employees only, a survey such as Gallup's may fit better, as long as you say so.
• Match the geography. Use Eurostat to compare EU countries and the national office for depth within one country.
• Match the measure. For credit card balances on credit reports, the New York Fed; for revolving credit outstanding, the Fed Board's G.19.
• Prefer the latest release. Check the release calendar, and cite the reference period, not only the year of publication.

FAQ

Are official statistics always more accurate than private data?

Not always, but their methods are published and stable, which makes errors easier to find. Private and vendor data can be more current or more detailed on narrow topics. Statlyst labels each source type so readers can weigh them.

Why do official figures change after publication?

Many series are first released as estimates and revised as more responses or records arrive. Cite the release date you used and check for revisions before republishing an older number.

Where do I find the original release for a Statlyst figure?

Every figure on a Statlyst statistics page links to the release it came from, and the CSV download includes the source title, URL and verbatim quote for each row.

Which official source covers the most Statlyst datasets?

By number of figures, Eurostat is the most cited official producer across Statlyst statistics pages, followed by the Federal Reserve Board, the ONS, the Census Bureau, the New York Fed and the BLS. Pew Research Center supplies more figures than any of them, but it is a research organization, not an official producer.