The  National Statistical System

The statistical system of Bangladesh is centralised in the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). The BBS is headed by a Director General comprises seven functional wings. For policy matters the BBS is under administrative control of Statistics Division headed by a Secretary to the Government.  The Secretary of the Statistics Division is also the Director General of BBS.

The Director General is responsible for generating and disseminating official statistics. He is assisted by a contingent of cadre and non-cadre officers in performing his responsibilities. The Cadre officers belong to the BCS (Statistical) cadre and are governed by the cadre rules framed by the Government.

The broad functions of the BBS are to collect, compile, analyse and publish statistics on all sectors of the economy to meet the needs of develop­ment planning, research, policy and decision making. The BBS is in charge of conducting the national Population Census, Agricultural Census, Census of Manufacturing Industries, Census of Establishments and other national level surveys in the field of labour force, demographic situation, agriculture, household income and expenditure etc. Foreign Trade Statistics and National Income Accounts of the country, selected social indicators and socio economic information relating to all sectors of the national economy are also compiled and published.

The BBS publishes on a regular basis advance releases on Industrial Production, Price Indices, and Monthly Statistical Bulletins and three major annual publications, viz. Statistical Yearbook, Agricul­tural Statistics Yearbook and the Statistical Pocketbook of Bangladesh, besides several adhoc and subject- -specific publications.

To achieve the broad objectives of data collection, field offices have been established in all the former District Headquarters and at all the Thanas  of the country. The former District Office headed by a Regional Statistical Officer co-ordinates and supervises the field activities of the Upazila/Thana Statistics Offices and also undertakes  various sample surveys. Currently there are 460 Upazila/Thana Offices all over the country. The Thana  Office is headed by a Thana Statistical Officer. There are two Junior Statistical Assistants and one Chainman in each Thana  Office. The Thana Office is in charge of all field activities at field-level  including  periodic censuses and surveys.

Statistics available from other organisations of the Government and Autonomous Bodies are mostly administrative by-products which are gathered in a conventional way.

Academic teaching facilities leading to Master's degree in Statistics are avail­able in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong and Jahangirnagar Universities and teaching facilities up to the degree level exist in a few colleges. Statisti­cal training facilities including that in computer technology and data processing are available at the Institute of Statistical Research and Training of the University of Dhaka.

Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics