Kairiin Kütt wins the young statistician’s grant

The subject of Kütt’s Master’s thesis, completed at the University of Tartu, is mathematical statistics. The thesis is titled “Households and families in register-based census” and analyses the formation of households and families based on the indirect information derived from the Population Register. According to Kaja Sõstra, who is the Head of Methodology and Analysis Department at Statistics Estonia and was the chair of the grant committee, the main advantage of the thesis is that it offers a solution to the main problem of a register-based census – how to identify partners in an unregistered consensual union on which there are no data in any register. “The outcome of the thesis will be implemented by Statistics Estonia already this autumn, in the pilot census for the register-based population and housing census,” said Sõstra.

The Albert Pullerits young statistician’s grant was first awarded by Statistics Estonia in 2011, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Estonian statistics. Students whose thesis develops or applies a statistical method are eligible to apply for the grant. In 2014, the selected subject areas were the population and social life.

The Albert Pullerits young statistician’s grant is awarded annually. The aim of the grant is to promote statistics as a very important branch of science, to motivate young people interested in statistics to apply and develop statistical methods, and to strengthen Statistics Estonia’s cooperation with research institutions. This year’s prize was an iPad.

Albert Pullerits was the first director of the Estonian State Central Bureau of Statistics (established in 1921) and the founder of the official statistics system in Estonia.

Kairiin Kütt’s thesis is available on Statistics Estonia’s website.