Country Profile of Suriname
Main statistical agency
Main statistical agency name
General Bureau of Statistics (in Dutch: Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek)
Web address
www.statistics-suriname.org
Position in the government
The Statistics Act established the GBS as a foundation separate from government agencies. For budgetary and administrative purposes, the GBS falls under the Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation.
Organizational structure and finance
Director;
1st Deputy Director (Research, Planning and Data dissemination)
2nd Deputy Director (Statistics);
Managers (e.g Human Resources Management, Census Office, Internal Control, etc.) and Coordinators (Social Statistics and Economic Statistics);
Sectional Heads (Statistical sections, Administrative sections, Public Relations & Information);
Non managerial staff (statistical, technical, administrative and field staff)
Finance: Government Subsidies, Own means generated by the GBS (sales of publications, sales of samples, services to third parties etc.), Donations and Bequests, Returns of investments, etc.
Multi-annual or annual work program
Annual work program and Budget needs to be submitted to to the Commission for Statistics, by end May / beginning of June each year. Multi-annual plan 2006-2009 needs to be submitted to the Commission by the end of January 2006
Main duties
The GBS mission is: “To provide the National and International Community with sound Statistics that provide an insight into the social, cultural, demographic and economic situation and development of Suriname”.
Brief history and other relevant background information
Brief history and other relevant background information
Instated 1 January 1947 under the Office of the Governor of the colony Suriname.
After quite some administrative relocations, both before and after independence of Suriname (Independence Day 25 November 1975), the Bureau finally landed under the Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation in 1991, the same year that Ministry was instated.
The Statistics Act of 2002 (S.B., 2002, no. 97, changed the status of the Bureau from a Government Department to a Semi-autonomous Foundation.
On March 14, 2003 with the registration of the new Foundation General Office of Statistics in the Foundation Register all conditions to the new Statistics Act to take effect.
Legal basis
Legal basis
The operations and activities of the General Bureau of Statistics (GBS) are governed by the Statistics Act S.B. 2002, no 97. The GBS is responsible for the compilation and dissemination of a wide range of data.
Other producers of official statistics
Other producers of official statistics
Central Bank
Statistical and Research Units of Line Ministries such as: Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Health, Statistics unit of the Police Force
Bureau for Public Health
Civil Registry Office
Statistical advisory bodies
Statistical advisory bodies
The Statistics Act established a Statistical Commission to oversee statistical development throughout Suriname and, in particular, the activities of the GBS.
Data collection
Most recent population census
2 August 2004
Access to administrative data
The Statistics Act (S.B. 2002, no. 97) of 3 December 2002 provides for access to inter alia records of the Tax Office
Data confidentiality
Article 8 of the Statistics Act prohibits anyone who has access to statistics from using the data in any form other than that covered by the Act, and strict confidentiality must be maintained. Article 11 specifies that anyone acting in conflict with Article 8 is subject to fine and imprisonment. Article 8 also specifies that data may not be published in any way that permits identification of individual persons or enterprises, except when those individuals or enterprises give written permission.
Data dissemination
Release calendar (existence, when and how published)
The CPI is released on the 22nd of each month, when the 22nd is a working day; each issue of the CPI publication states the date of the next three releases. Except for CPI, all other advance release calendars for publications are only for internal use.
The release calendar of the Population and Housing Census publications was also published.
Main publications
Population and Housing Census Volumes
Statistical Yearbook
National Accounts Statistics
Trade Statistics
Statistical Papers, Basic Indicators
Gender Statistics, Environment Statistics
Consumer Price Index
Poverty lines and Poverty
Languages of main publications
Dutch,
Summaries in English are often provided and some of the publications are completely (Dutch-English) bi-lingual
How are data disseminated (Paper, CD Rom, Website, online databases, databanks)?
Full publications in Hard copy and on CD, Summaries on the Website
Availability of microdata for research purposes
Available on site anonymized microdata of the 1999/2000 Household Budget Survey.
Anonymized Census micro data will be available on site as of July 2006,
and also samples (not exceeding 10% per Geographic location) may be purchased as of July 2006.
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