Abstract
France's official statistics system is founded on the dual principle of decentralization by sector in the ministries, with the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) playing a strong coordinating role. Nineteen ministry statistical services produce statistics for their own area. The coordination of the whole is ensured through a common basic training, a high level of mobility between the different services, tools that help information to circulate, the National Council for Statistical Information (CNIS) that gives a coherence to the programmes and ensures their social and economic utility, and unified concepts and nomenclature.