Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Friday called for greater efforts to improve the accuracy of statistics, saying they are meaningless if distrusted by the public.

The minister made the call at a meeting with senior officials from Statistics Korea at the government complex in Seoul.

Hong stressed the importance of accurate statistics in helping the government correctly diagnose the situation and establish proper policies.

He added that in light of the rapid changes in the economy and society, the overall procedure of compiling statistics should become more advanced and transparent.

Hong also urged statistics officials to make efforts to compile data using big data analytics.