Country Profile of Thailand
Main statistical agency
Main statistical agency name
National Statistical Office (NSO)
Web address
www.nso.go.th
Position in the government
The National Statistical Office reports to the Minister and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
Organizational structure and finance
The organization of the NSO is divided into Central and Local Administration.
The Central Administration consists of
1. Information and Communication Technology Center
2. Economic and Social Statistics Bureau
3. Policy and Statistical Techniques Bureau
4. Statistical Forecasting Bureau
5. Office of the Secretary
6. Field Administration Division
7. Public Opinion Division
Local Administration consists of 75 provincial statistical offices which their main responsibility is expanded from only the field operation work to complete the whole process of conducting the statistical projects.
Multi-annual or annual work program
There is a five-year work-programme which is reviewed every year.
Main duties
The National Statistics Office shall have the following authority and duties:
(1) Preparing the Master Plan for the implementation of the government statistical work.
(2) Preparing statistics standards to present to the cabinet for approval.
(3) Promoting and developing statistical work both for the government and private sector.
(4) Conducting census and surveys or directing the surveys on various statistics of the country.
(5) Coordinating and consulting with agencies to prepare plans that define the responsibilities in implementing the statistical work under the Master Plan as mentioned in (1).
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(6) Providing recommendations, advice or assistance to agencies regarding the preparation of work plans and methodology for data collection as well as processing and analyzing statistical outcomes.
(7) Coordinating with agencies to create statistical network in order to obtain important and timely statistical database of the country
(8) Providing statistical service to the general public.
(9) Disseminating statistics and organizing education and training on statistics.
(10) Cooperating and coordinating with other countries and international
organizations regarding statistical work.
(11)Performing other acts as prescribed by the law and as assigned by the cabinet.
Brief history and other relevant background information
Brief history and other relevant background information
Official Statistics in Thailand began on April 1, 1915 under a decree by His Majesty King Rama VI. The office named the Statistical Forecast Bureau was found as a department under the Ministry of Royal Treasury on March 14, 1914. It was headed by Prince Pitthayalongkorn as the Director General.
The department underwent several changes in status and Statistical Forecast Bureau was renamed as the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Office of the Prime Minister on May 23, 1963. The NSO had been expanded steadily. During that time Provincial Statistical Offices was establishing into every province in the country.
Under the Royal Decree, the NSO was restructured into 9 divisions in 1992 and was defined authorities clearly in each division. In 1993, the organization was reformed by setting Provincial Statistical Offices as Local Administration. This circumstance was officially announced in the Royal Gazette dated on December 9, 1993.
After the Bureaucratic system was restructured in 2002, the NSO was transferred to the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology as announced in the Royal Gazette dated on October 9, 2002, volume 119, section 103 A.
Thailand Statistical Act B.E. 2508 (1965) covers authorities and functions of the NSO, the National Statistical Committee's duties, officers' duties and respondents' privacy, and was repealed and replaced by The Statistics Act, B.E. 2550 in 2007.
Legal basis
Legal basis
The Statistics Act , B.E. 2550 (2007).
Other producers of official statistics
Other producers of official statistics
There are other government agencies that produce official statistics namely;
Bureau of Trade and Economic Indices, Office of the Permanent Secretary under Ministry of Commerce produce prices statistics and prices indices.
Office of Agriculture Economic produces agriculture statistics (except Agriculture Census).
etc.
Statistical advisory bodies
Statistical advisory bodies
At present, NSO uses the Statistics Act; B.E. 1965 to assign the National Statistical Commission shall serve as an advisory body to the NSO. The National Statistical Commission consists of Chairman, Vice-Chairman and not more than ten other members, appointed by the Cabinet, as well as representatives from every ministry as member ex-officio. The Secretary-General of the National Statistical Office shall serve as a member and secretary.
Data collection
Most recent population census
1 April 2000
Access to administrative data
Most parts of sampling frame are from census, which is usually conducted by the NSO. Mostly, the NSO uses that frame to most survey projects. However, in case no appropriate sampling frame is available for some survey, the NSO will use some administrative data from various sources such as a list of establishments from Social Security Office and Department of the Business Development.
Data confidentiality
According to the Statistical Act, all statements or figures, on an individual basis, which are recorded in the forms or questionnaires, shall be treated as strictly confidential. No person, performing his duties under this Act, shall reveal any information to any other person who has no duty to perform according to this Act, except for the purpose of an inquiry or trail of an individual accused of committing an offence under this Act.
Data dissemination
Release calendar (existence, when and how published)
The NSO publishes an advance release calendar, which is announced on the NSO web page; www.nso.go.th.
Main publications
Economic Statistical Report:
-Agricultural census
-Core economic indicators of thailand
-Commodity flow survey
-Construction area
-Household Socio _Economic survey
-Industrial census(basic information:Municipal area)
-Industrial census(basic information:Non-Municipal area)
-Industrial census(basic information)
-Non-profit organization survey
-Private hospital survey
-Quarterly retail survey
Social Statistical Report:
-Core social indicators of Thailand
-Health and welfare survey
-Informat person survey
-Labour demand of establishment survey
-Labour force survey
-Mass media survey(Radio and television)
-Older person in thailand
-Skill development survey
ICT Statistical Report:
-Information and Communication Technology survey on household
-Information and Communication Technology Indicator
-Information and Communication Technology Survey on Household
-Information and Communication Technology(Establishment)
Other Statistical Report:
-Gender development: similarities and differences
-Key statistics of thailand
-Quarterly bulletin statistics
-StatXML
-Statistical yearbook thailand
-Thailand environment statistics
Languages of main publications
Bilingual publications; Thai-English
How are data disseminated (Paper, CD Rom, Website, online databases, databanks)?
The NSO provide information in form of publications, such as preliminary and final reports on census and survey, statistical bulletins, statistical yearbooks, provincial statistics reports and regional statistics reports. Services on form of diskettes or CD-ROM are available. The NSO has also provided Statistical Information Searching System (SISS) for individual search at the NSO. Data are disseminated at website www.nso.go.th. A statistical data warehouse has been developing. At present the data warehouse contains data of Agriculture Census and Community Level Statistics could be accessibility by internet access.
Availability of microdata for research purposes
The NSO provides all official statistics for user access, except name and address of individual data and also statistical data of establishments (covering less than 3 units) is not revealed.
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