Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT)

www.mof.gov.cy/cystat

The Statistical Service functions under the Ministry of Finance, however, CYSTAT maintains its autonomy in technical matters and has professional independence and exclusive responsibility for the choice of methodology and procedures for the production and dissemination of statistical data.

The Statistical Service is organized by subject matter on the basis of 6 main Divisions and 4 supporting Sections. The main statistical Divisions are:

- Industry, construction, wholesale and retail trade, services, environment
- Demography, health, education
- Labour force, wages and salaries, prices
- Social statistics
- National accounts and foreign trade
- Agricultural statistics

The supporting Sections pertain to the following:

- Statistical information and ICT surveys
- Data processing and technical support
- Registry
- Accounts

The Statistical Service has Offices in Limassol, Larnaka and Pafos.

CYSTAT currently employs 146 permanent staff. A number of casual staff is also employed to assist in the various censuses and sample surveys, primarily at the data collection phase.

An annual and a five-year programme is prepared by CYSTAT, submitted to the Statistical Council and approved by the Council of Ministers.

The Statistical Service is the competent authority responsible for the compilation and the publication of most of the official statistical data in Cyprus.

CYSTAT is mainly concerned with the initiation, organization and carrying out of various censuses, surveys and statistical enquiries of an economic or social content and the publication of the results with the intention of assisting both the government and the private sector in policy-making and the planning of their activities. At the same time, CYSTAT acts as a coordinator in cases where other institutions (such as the Central Bank, other Ministries and Government Departments and semi-Government organizations) pursue work of a statistical nature for the collection of data of direct interest to the area of their activity.

The Statistical Service is the competent authority responsible for the compilation and the publication of most of the official statistical data in Cyprus. CYSTAT (until January 2000 under the name Department of Statistics and Research) functions under the Ministry of Finance, however, the Statistical Service maintains its autonomy in technical matters and has exclusive responsibility for the choice of methodology, technique, definitions and procedures for the realization of the programmes of statistical activities, as well as for the publication of the statistical data produced.

The Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT) was set up in 1950 as a small administrative unit while its real function started after Cyprus became independent, in 1960.

The most important innovations introduced on CYSTAT's website are:
- Creation of Subthemes under each Statistical Theme
- New search facility for publications
- Formation of separate archives for Key Figures, Press Releases and News, Publications
- Upgrading of the Alert service and expansion to Publications
- Addition of methodological notes (Metadata)

Statistics Law 2000 provides the legal framework for the carrying out of surveys, the production and dissemination of statistical data, redefines the role and functions of CYSTAT and it includes provisions with regard to the principles and rules governing the statistical system of Cyprus.

Central Bank, other Ministries and Government Departments also produce some statistics.

An 11 member Statistical Council is operating since 2000. Composition: 5 members from the Government, 1 from the Central Bank, 2 from the employers’ associations, 2 from the trade union associations and 1 from the University of Cyprus.

1 October 2001

The Statistical Service has the right of free access to the administrative records of the Ministries and Services of the government and of public corporations, as far as the data collected are necessary for the production of statistics.

The data collected and processed by the Statistical Service for the production of statistics are considered as confidential as long as they allow the direct or indirect identification of statistical units and disclose personal data.

The access to confidential statistical data is possible only after permission from the Director of CYSTAT and provided that these data are essential for specific scientific research programmes the results of which do not disclose specific statistical units and will not be used for commercial purposes.

The transmission of confidential data to the Statistical Office of the European Communities is permitted when these are necessary for the production of Community statistics.

The Release Calendar is updated every Friday and it contains the dates of the Press Releases and announcements of the Statistical Service which are scheduled to be released in the following week. The Release Calendar is available on CYSTAT’s website.

A list of the main publications of the Statistical Service is available on CYSTAT’s website under the section “Publications”.

Details of the publications issued by the Statistical Service since its establishment are available in the report “Publications catalogue of the Statistical Service of Cyprus”.

Greek and English.

Paper, Website, diskettes and CD Rom.

Some micro data (anonymous) are forwarded to the Academia or other users for research purposes when the research methods and targets of the studies are submitted for approval to CYSTAT and judged entitled under the Statistics Law.