Definition: Forecasting

OECD - Data and Metadata Reporting

"Forecasting" and "prediction" are often used synonymously in the customary sense of assessing the magnitude which a quantity will assume at some future point of time: as distinct from "estimation" which attempts to assess the magnitude of an already existent quantity.

Source:
Marriott, F.H.C., 1990, A Dictionary of Statistical Terms, 5th ed., Longman Scientific and Technical, Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex, England, for the International Statistical Institute [quoted in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), "Data and Metadata Reporting and Presentation Handbook", OECD, Paris, 2007]

Created:
2009-09-18

Updated:
2019-05-10