Central Statistical Office
Poland
TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED
ECONOMIC STATISTICS PROGRAMME
Halina Dmochowska
Beijing, July 2005
1
Legal Basis
• Law on Official Statistics 1995
• EU regulations on statistics
• annual „Programme of statistical surveys of official
statistics” – approved by the Council of Ministers;
results of these surveys = official statistics data
2
Characteristic Features
of the Polish Statistical System
• fully respects the principles of the UN official statistics,
• meets the requirements of the EU acquis communautaire,
• is a centralized system:
 the CSO President is the central agency of public administration
in the field of statistics, appointed by the Prime Minister for 6
years term of office;
 16 regional statistical offices are subordinated to the CSO
President;
3
Characteristic Features
of the Polish Statistical System
 the role of other entities is supplementary but essential,
among others, in the following areas:
− monetary and financial statistics (the National Bank
of Poland, the Ministry of Finance),
− environmental statistics (the Ministry of Environment),
4
Characteristic Features
of the Polish Statistical System
• Statistical Council - advisory and opinion-making body to
the Prime Minister, appointed for 5 years term of office,
17 Members – representatives of the main users groups:
− government ministries
− local authorities
− National Bank of Poland
− organizations of employers
− trade unions
− experts in the field of social science and economic
science (academics)
5
Main Tasks of the Statistical Council
• submits to the Council of Ministers a draft annual
programme of statistical surveys prepared by the President
of the CSO
• evaluates execution of the programme
• recommends on new surveys and methodological activities
and other significant issues of the development of official
statistics
6
Programme of Methodological Activities
• internal document of the CSO – supplement to the
„Programme of statistical surveys…”
• covers preparatory work on methodology of new
surveys or modernization of the existing surveys, pilot
surveys, experimental work etc.
These activities get ahead of the „Programme of statistical
surveys…” by about 1-3 years and are an effective tool of
coordination in the preparatory stage of building in the
programming process.
7
Following Users’ Needs Is the Main
Goal when Preparing the Programme
Consultations
with
users
before
designing
the
programme last approximately 6 months every year.
About 100 institutions and organizations represent
the most important groups of users:
• ministries and other government bodies
• local government administration
• trade unions
• organizations of employers
• social organizations
8
Statistical Infrastructure –
Tool of Integration
• national official registers (maintained by CSO)
 register of the national economy entities – REGON
 territorial register – TERYT
The use of ID number is required by law, especially in information
systems of public administration and contacts of every unit with
external environment
• statistical business register – created in the CSO and used
exclusively for statistical purposes
• statistical standards – definitions, classifications, nomenclature,
statistical units
There is a legal obligation to use these standards.
The CSO is responsible for development of majority of them.
9
The Register of National Economy
Entities (official register) – REGON
• created in the 1970’s, it operates, at present, under the
Law on Official Statistics of 1995
• the following legal units are obliged to make an entry to
the register:
 legal persons
 organizational units not having legal personality
 natural persons conducting economic activity
10
Data on National Economy Entities
Included in the Official Register - REGON
• name and address of the entity’s seat and, for natural
persons, name and surnames, place of residence and
identification number in the population records,
• legal form and form of ownership,
• conducted activity, of which a kind of predominant activity,
• date of creation, launching, suspending or terminating the
economic activity,
• name of registration office, name of register and the
identification number granted by the office,
• number of employees and, for agricultural holdings, total area
and the area of arable land,
11
Data on National Economy Entities
Included in the Official Register - REGON
• information on local units of each entity:

name and address,

conducted activity,

date of creation, launching, suspending and
terminating the economic activity,

number of employees,
12
Data on National Economy Entities
Included in the Official Register - REGON
All entities are obliged to inform of any changes in the
characteristic features covered by the register, excluding
information on the number of employees and, for
agricultural holding, the area of land.
Changes in the official register can be introduced
exclusively:
•
on the motion of the entity concerned, or
•
on the basis of data in other official registers or result
of updating questionnaire
13
Statistical Register of National Economy Entities
(used in the organization of statistical surveys)
• created on the basis of the official register – REGON,
• scope of data:
 harmonized with the EU legal requirements,
 units: enterprise, local unit, group of enterprises,
 characteristic features not included in the official register REGON,
e.g. revenues.
• updated on the basis of different sources i.e. statistical surveys results,
administrative sources,
• advantages:
 better updated sample frames for statistical surveys,
 cost effectiveness,
 improvement in the quality of results.
14
Data Sources for Official Statistics
• statistical surveys results
• administrative sources
– government bodies and local governments are obliged to grant
access for statistical authorities to the information gathered in
their systems; details are described in the „Program of statistical
surveys…”
– President of the CSO is obliged to specify the needs of statistics
and to submit justified proposals to adjust administrative registers
to be used also for statistical purposes
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Forms of Using Administrative Sources
• direct, main data source,
• statistical surveys - supplementary source of missing
information,
• instrument of quality control of data from statistical
surveys,
• auxiliary variables at imputation of missing data,
• additional variables used in indirect estimation technique
for small domains,
• data source for updating the statistical register.
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Advantages of Using
Administrative Sources
• lowering the respondents’ burden,
• lowering costs of obtaining information,
• improving the quality of surveys’ results and estimates,
• opportunities of obtaining information on full populations
and for small domains,
• opportunities of integration of statistical surveys results
and administrative systems,
• improving the quality of administrative systems,
• increasing the integrity and cohesion of those systems.
17
Administrative Registers Used
in Statistics (examples)
• population register
• tax system (PIT, CIT, VAT)
• customs system (SAD, used in foreign trade statistics)
• social insurance system
• geodesy information system
• environment monitoring
• information systems of the National Bank of Poland, Polish Securities
and Exchange Commission, Insurance and Pension Funds Supervisory
Commission
Administrative sources/registers have been used in 80 of 209 statistical
surveys included in the Programme of Statistical Surveys – for 2004 i.e.
40%.
Intensive work is in progress in this area, in close cooperation with
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gestors of the registers.
Conditions of Using Administrative
Sources
• legal
• methodological
• organizational
• financial
• technological
19
Census of Economic Activity –
Case of Poland
• idea of the census emerged in the middle of the 90-ties to meet
users needs concerning entrepreneurship at that stage
of transformation of the economy;
draft law on economic census
• at that time, annual surveys covered:
 whole population of enterprises employing 6 and more persons
 sample of the smallest units (which represented very dynamic,
changing population, difficult to have updated in the REGON
register).
• administrative registers/records in their initial period were not
available for statistical purposes
20
Main Targets of the Economic Census
• obtain basic information for updating the register and create survey
frames for sample surveys
• get data on localization and structure of economic activity of the whole
population of enterprises active at the moment of the census
• verify the data on the size and results of economic activity, improve
statistics used in national and regional accounts
• collect information describing new entrepreneurs and their professional
characteristics
Coverage: NACE A (excl. individual agricultural holdings), B, C, D, E,
F, G, H, I, J (banking and insurance – excl.), K, M, N, O.
21
Organisation of the Census
• supervision and coordination on the national level – President of
the CSO
• organisation and supervision on the regional level – regional
statistical offices
• organisation and supervision on the local level – local authorities
• to minimize costs, it was planned to conduct census
 by enumerators – in enterprises employing up to 20 persons
 by mail – as a supplement to regular statistical questionnaires
– for units employing more than 20 persons.
Economic census had never been conducted because of budget
limitations.
22
Next Steps
• threshold of employment was raised up to 9 persons for
the sample surveys on micro-enterprises
• statistical register has been created
• statistics was given the access to selected administrative
records/registers
• SBS has been implemented according to EU requirements;
available data on:
 current register variables
 kind of activity
 localization of activity
23
System of Annual Surveys of
Non-financial Enterprises – Today
• exhaustive survey on enterprises with 10 and more
persons employed
• sample survey (4-5%) of small units (below 10 persons
employed)
The scope of collected information depends on:
• the size of enterprise
• the accounting system used by the enterprise
24
System of Annual Surveys of
Non-financial Enterprises – Today
In general – apart form the size of enterprise and the
accounting system the following information is collected
annually:
• basic data on the unit (name, address, activity status)
• employment and wages and salaries
• main financial results of activity
• fixed assets
• investment outlays
• localisations of economic activity and its basic description
• a list of kinds of activity conducted (NACE - class level)
25
Short-term Economic Statistics Scheme
monthly
quarterly
national accounts
X
financial situation of the enterprises
above 49 persons employed
above 9 persons employed
X
semi-annually
X
output of industry and construction
X
selected market services
X
retail trade
X
employment, unemployment
X
prices
X
foreign trade
X
balance of payments (NBP)
X
state budget (MoF)
X
business and consumers tendency surveys
(industry, construction, retail trade, services and
households)
X
X (LFS)
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Concluding Remarks
Polish experience gained in the period of transformation shows that
the integrated approach in creation of the economic statistics system
was supported by the following factors:
− in relationship with the external environment:
• legal solutions and based on them procedures of planning
statistical surveys which ensure the participation of
representatives of main users’ groups and administrative data
providers in preparation of the draft programme of statistical
surveys of the official statistics,
• implementation of statistical standards as an element of
standardization of the state information system.
• agreements between the CSO and gestors of administrative
data (in specific cases), as well as, working groups appointed to
prepare especially important projects,
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Concluding Remarks
− in statistics:
• giving the highest importance to the work on national
accounts and related subjects comparing to branch
economic statistics – NA driven process,
• activities aimed at improving the quality of statistical data
and connected, in particular, with the use of
administrative sources,
• modernization of statistical data dissemination system
(including the efforts to achieve the integration of the
surveys’ results).
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