Mirosław Migacz (Statistics Poland)
Statistics Poland is currently finalizing a project dealing with the role of areas in the statistical production process. The project addresses the influence of territorial boundary changes on values of various indicators. Poland disseminates statistical data on three levels of administrative division: voivodships (former NUTS2), powiat (LAU1) and gmina (LAU2). Gmina units annually undergo changes of various types from minor boundary changes to type changes, merges or terminations. Each change influences the gmina area, which in turn affects statistical indicators that are calculated using the area (population density being the most popular). The information about the change is not always disseminated along with the data it affects, which may cause serious misinterpretations of data. The project concentrates on performing an inventory of gmina changes and designing a web application for presenting information on these changes, which can be accessible from all dissemination channels.