UM academic visits the Lithuania’s State Data Agency

From the National Statistics Office to the State Data Agency: Lithuania’s path towards data-driven governance. The secondment of Dr Luca Di Gennaro Splendore focuses on understanding how institutional reforms in national statistical systems affect data governance, transparency, and democratic accountability, as part of his European research project on Democracy and Official Statistics.

In recent years, Lithuania has undergone one of the most ambitious transformations in the European statistical landscape. In 2023, Statistics Lithuania evolved into the State Data Agency (Valstybės Duomenų Agentūra) — a comprehensive national institution that not only produces official statistics but also plays a broader role in managing the country’s data ecosystem.

The reform marked a strategic shift from traditional statistical production to data stewardship, enabling the agency to coordinate data flows across ministries, municipalities, and the private sector. Under the new law, the State Data Agency is empowered to access primary and administrative data, documents, and information free of charge and within 30 days, thereby accelerating data integration and improving the efficiency of evidence-based decision-making.

The Agency has launched several initiatives to strengthen Lithuania’s data infrastructure and promote innovation, including Open Data, the Municipal DataLab, and the National Data Lake — platforms designed to facilitate transparency, encourage collaboration, and support data-driven public administration.

“The transformation of a national statistics office into a State Data Agency represents a new paradigm for how governments can use data responsibly while maintaining public trust,” noted Dr Di Gennaro Splendore. “Lithuania offers an inspiring model of how official statistics and data governance can converge in service of democracy.”

Dr Di Gennaro Splendore’s ongoing work in Lithuania contributes to a wider comparative research agenda examining how different countries are adapting their statistical institutions to the digital era. The project aims to provide empirical evidence on the evolving relationship between governance, democracy, and official statistics, supporting global discussions on the role of trusted data intermediaries in modern societies.