The origin of EFGS is the Nordic Forum for Geography and Statistics, having its first meeting in Voss, Norway in 1998. In addition to the Nordic countries, Baltic countries were also invited to the annual meetings. It soon became clear that several other national statistical institutes had interests in geostatistical work, and that there was a need for harmonising statistical products with a geographical reference.
The first meeting of EFGS took place in Kongsvinger, Norway, in 2006. The number of national contact persons have after that grown to include more and more countries. Today EFGS has national contact persons from 32 European states and territories, having annual conferences and meetings. European Forum for Geography and Statistics activities are mainly concentrated on the development of the best practices in the production of geostatistics in Europe. Also countries outside Europe are active in EFGS and EFGS is therefore also aiming establishing a global forum.
Past and coming conferences of the EFGS:
EFGS 2022 – organized by EFGS Steering Committee (virtual)
EFGS 2021 – organized by Germany (virtual)
EFGS 2020 – organized by Poland (as EFGS 2020 Webinar)
EFGS 2019 Manchester, United Kingdom
EFGS 2012 Prague, Czech Republic