My (hopefully obvious) reason for asking is that if the stats came from many different sources, it potentially reduces the likelihood of drawing meaningful conclusions.Do you mean hopefully obvious, or obviously hopeful? ;-)
I think you'll find that the stats come from a single government source.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
