What do these stats add up to?

A treasure trove of facts and figures it details everything from the average earnings of a household in St Peter’s to how much the parents of a pupil at Ladies’ College bring in.

Scattered among the statistics are terms such as unequivalised, Gini coefficient and quintile which are rarely heard even at an actuary’s office party.

But aside from casting envious glances at the number of households pulling in over £200,000 a year and the mild interest of knowing where your family rates in terms of average earnings it is difficult to pinpoint its precise value to islanders.

So what if most Tortevites earn a lot more than people in St Sampson’s? Most people would have guessed that anyway. And can/should anything be done about it?

And how outraged or encouraged should we be that 8.5% of people earn between £10,000 and £20,000?

Without commentary, comparison or analysis it is hard to make much of many of the figures beyond a shrug or a slight tut.

Maybe that is because it is not really meant for general consumption. Certainly, it’s not heavily promoted as essential reading material.

Perhaps it is simply for States statisticians, accountants and others in the private sector who need to understand the social make-up of the island to set policy on everything from pensions to pay rises.

Instead of shoving the island in one direction its influence is more subtle as social scientists, civil servants and politicians delve into it time and again for that killer stat that anchors their case and identifies a hidden trend.

Certainly, it is better to have the 55-page report than not.

Up until recently Guernsey’s record on data collation has been woeful.

Only last week a working party analysing the blight of in-work poverty complained that the States had no idea how many people were on the minimum wage, or just above it.

Perhaps that stat could be added to the list.