CORRECTIONS

Send a correction

A report about numbers owes readers a way to say a number is wrong. Tell us what and why.

The form

Corrections policy

We publish a report about numbers, so we owe readers a way to tell us when a number is wrong or when a better source exists.

How to send a correction. Use the corrections form. Tell us the page or section, the figure or sentence, what you think is correct, and your source. A link or document helps. We do not publish an email address for corrections; the form reaches the team that reviews them.

What we do with it.

We acknowledge a submission when you give us a way to reply, and check it against the original sources.
If it is an error, we correct the page and add a dated note at the top: what changed, what it was before, and why. We do not edit quietly.
If sources legitimately disagree (different year, definition or method), we do not pick a winner silently. We add both figures with the reason they differ, as we do throughout the report.
If a source is an estimate, we keep it labelled as an estimate and show its range.
We carry every correction into the next edition's change log.

What counts as a correction. A wrong number, a wrong attribution, a misreading of a source, a dated figure presented as current, a broken or misleading chart, or a missing caveat. Differences of opinion about the analysis in Sections 5 and 6 are welcome, and we answer them, but they are not corrections.

Third-party material. If you own data we cite and want the attribution or the reference changed, tell us through the same form.

Standards we hold ourselves to. Every statistic carries a source and a year. Estimates are labelled as estimates. Where we could not read a primary source, the report says so. Where we publish an opinion, it is labelled. A report that cannot be corrected cannot be trusted, and we intend to be around for edition twenty.