256 days until the beginning of Saudi Arabia Census 2020 8 governmental entities review 21 executive plans for Saudi Arabia Census 2020 The president of the General Authority for Statistics, Dr. Fahad bin Sulaiman Altekhaifi confirmed that all preparation for the General Population, Housing, and Establishments Census 2020 are complete with the participation of a number of related governmental entities. 21 executive plans within the project’s preparatory stage have been prepared, including all tasks and requirements to the census implementation. These plans also cover all stages of work in details.  the executive committee of Saudi Arabia Census 2020 has held its first meeting on Wednesday Shawwal 30th 1440H at GASTAT head office, with the participation of Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Commerce and Investment, Ministry of Education, National Information Center, and Saudi Post. All issues of electronic linkage with the National Information Center, the plan of classifications and manuals, manpower and training, maps and postal address have been discussed, in addition to a number of topics related to information technology and field works. Altekhaifi said that the collaboration adopted by all governmental entities will enable them all from investing all means of modern technologies which provides a wide database that can be used as a reliable reference when conducting the studies and research required for Saudi Arabia developmental plans and programs, in addition to providing statistical data and indicators that measure the changes of population characteristics over time, making national and international comparisons, revising and evaluating the future population estimates, and providing detailed data that was not available before because of the nature of technologies and software that were used in the previous census ten years ago. GASTAT works with its partners to develop and build a unified geo-spatial database that covers all Saudi Arabia cities and villages, which makes a complete transformation while dealing with the geographical data of the digital image at all stages of the census, and enables data exchange with GASTAT clients in different sectors. His excellency expressed his appreciation for the great support that GASTAT and other governmental entities receive from our great leadership for the success of census works. It is worth mentioning that there are 256 days to go until the beginning of the census. The approval of His Royal Highness, the King of Saudi Arabia has been announced previously to specify the evening of Tuesday 22nd of Rajab, 1441 H corresponding 17th of March, 2020 to be the beginning of the actual enumeration works of the Fifth Population, Housing, and Establishments Census in Saudi Arabia. This date shall be approved as the time reference date for all census works, data, and information. A new portal has been launched specifically for all details of census works: https://saudicensus.sa/

GASTAT Releases Results of Household Health Survey, 2018 GASTAT released the results of Household Health Survey, 2018 on its official website. The importance of this survey lies in the data and indicators provided for health. It includes indicators for health status of individuals, population suffering from chronic diseases, periodic health check-ups performed by individuals, in addition to indicators of family planning procedures, fertility rates, and child mortality.  Results showed that the percentage of (Saudi and non-Saudi) population (15+) who have good to very good health has increased, and that is based on their own assessments where the percentage hit (95%) compared to (%94.2) in 2017. In regard to Saudis, the percentage of Saudi males who have good to very good health reached to (%94.2) based on their own assessments, while the percentage of Saudi females who have good to very good health was at (%92.3) based on their own assessments.   Results also showed that (%24.3) of total population (15+) perform periodic check-ups to check their health at least once a year. Additionally, percentage of (Saudi and non-Saudi) population who are covered with health insurance reached (%38.6).  On the other hand, results of the survey indicated that the percentage of population who are suffering from chronic diseases in the age group (15+) has decreased to (%15.9) compared to (%16.4) in 2017.  Based on the survey’s results, total fertility rate of women between (15-49 years) was (1.92) birth per woman. As for Saudi females, the total fertility rate was (2.33) births per woman. The results indicated that (%32.9) of married women between (15-49 years) are using modern contraceptive methods.   Moreover, mortality rate among children under five years was (8.5) deaths per 1,000 live births, while mortality rate among infants under one year in Saudi Arabia was (6) deaths per 1,000 live births. Results revealed that percentage of population (15+) who were diagnosed with diabetes reached (%8.5). The percentage of population (15+) who were diagnosed with heart diseases was at (%1.21). On the other hand, the percentage of population (15+) who were diagnosed with hypertension was (%7.6).   Household Health Survey also includes other indicators such as: distance between households and health centers, percentage of children under two years who are committed to vaccination, average number of hospital admissions per 1000 individuals, in addition to other indicators.

GASTAT Launches “Self-enumeration System” and e-portal for Saudi Arabia’s 2020 Census Minister of Economy and Planning and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) Muhammad Bin Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri launched on Mondy 14/10/1440H (June 17th ,2019) the e-portal for Saudi Arabia’s 2020 census, as an awareness platform for everything related to the fifth census of housing, populations, and establishments 1440H-2020 through its official websites www.stats.gov.sa A detailed presentation for the e-portal including its objectives as well as the preparations of the census was reviewed by HE. In fact, the e-portal of Saudi census 2020 is an official platform for all census’s news and everything related to it including announcing and publishing results, it is also a platform for spreading statistical awareness in general, deputy of GASTAT for strategic communication and clients support Taiseer AL-Mofarrej said. The e-portal has special windows for the past four censuses and their results, it also includes windows for news and awareness content that shed light on the preparations made until now for Saudi Arabia’s 5th census, AL-Mofarrej clarified. He also added that citizens and expatriates will be able to complete the census form online through (self-enumeration system) via the website on March 2020, which is considered one of the most important modern methods for population census, as it will enable heads of the households to register all data of the family without the need for the visit of the statistical researcher to their places. This system will be used as one of the tools to collect statistical data from households in Saudi Arabia’s census 2020. On the other hand, spreading the statistical awareness among the society will lead to success of the self-enumeration experience since knowledge of technology is now considered as a feature of the Saudi society in all age groups, he added. It is worth mentioning that the Council of Ministers has approved the implementation of the General Population and Housing Census for 2020 as the fifth census of Saudi Arabia. Tuesday’s evening, 22 Rajab 1441 (17 March 2020) will be the beginning of the actual enumeration for the 5th census of population and housing in Saudi Arabia. This date shall be the approved date for the time reference of all census works, data and information. 2020 census will provide a huge database that will be used as a reliable reference to conduct studies and researches required by the development plans and programs in Saudi Arabia, in addition to statistical data and indicators for measuring the change in the characteristics of population that occurred by time, also to make international, regional, and local comparisons, as well as reviewing and evaluating future estimates of population. Saudi Arabia has implemented the first official census in its comprehensive sense in 1394 AH (1974). The second census was in 1413H (1992). The third census was conducted in 1425H (2004). 1431H (2010) census was the fourth census and was carried out by the Department of Statistics and Information before being transformed into the General Authority for Statistics.

GASTAT provides development opportunities through big data Saudi Arabia concludes its participation in the first meeting of the friends of the chair group on economic statistics of the United Nations within 11 countries On Thursday May 30, 2019, Saudi Arabia, represented by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), concluded its participation in the first meeting of the friends of the chair group on economic statistics of the United Nations within 11 countries, which was held at UN headquarter in New York city. The three-day meeting discussed the institutional transformation issues of national statistical bodies, in addition to the new methods, services and roles played by such statistical agencies. GASTAT president, Dr. Fahad bin Sulaiman Altekhaifi, who led the Saudi delegation, confirmed that GASTAT 's participations with international organizations and experts of the international statistical agencies in their meetings are useful opportunities to highlight KSA's efforts in development with statistical figures and to develop statistical work according to international standards. Altekhaifi said statistical offices are challenged by changes in data gathering brought about by new technology. He added that big data could replace traditional statistical activities as an innovative way of producing official statistics or providing additional information to support the currently available official statistics, hence new indicators might be produced to support all decision makers in different developmental fields. The shift towards big data to be one of GASTAT official statistics sources reflects Saudi Arabia tendencies to benefit from the digital transformation in producing economic, social, and cultural statistics that support government bodies in accepting the rapid developmental changes which must be applied and reflected through official statistics. GASTAT president indicated that using big data as a new (complementary or alternative) source of data creates some challenges that should be overcome by statistical entities. These challenges include the methodological aspects of data, determining data access methods, unifying statistical concepts, completing and processing data and other practices, in addition to ensuring a certain level of quality and enabling international comparisons. However, the organizational factors include other fields such as updating the organizational structure, working on statistical capacity development, establishing collaborations with the private and public data sources, and communicating with users. Altekhaifi mentioned that the national statistical agencies must overcome these challenges to guarantee the usefulness of big data in the production of official statistics, especially for databases, computing and digitization. Statistical entities need to adopt national statistical strategies that deal with plans, strategies, implementation methods and development mechanisms in the national statistical environment. In addition, they need to enhance coordination and partnerships between the national statistical agencies and the different sources of data, whether governmental or private. However, all databases of government and private statistical entities must be electronically linked, while maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of data when exchanging data. Furthermore, statistical indicators definitions, concepts, and methodologies must be unified among all partners to avoid misunderstandings of statistics that result from the use of different concepts and methodology. This includes the use of official international statistical classifications such as ISIC 4 by all partners from the public and private sectors to facilitate work on databases and get coordinated and comparable data that are ready for all statistical purposes. Moreover, it is important for all statistical entities to have a road map through which they can use big data to provide official data. GASTAT has reviewed all Saudi Arabia’ efforts to benefit from big data by approving the National Strategy for Statistical Development, electronic linkage projects, and international classifications. In addition to unifying the definitions and methodologies, and encouraging the initiatives of digital transformation in all public and private sectors. It is worth mentioning that many international experts in the statistical and economic fields have participated in the discussions of the first meeting of the friends of the chair group on economic statistics of the United Nations. Topics discussed included the future of economic statistics within the Sustainable Development Goals from the perspectives of the international organizations and the national statistical entities. They also included digital infrastructure, and maintaining an interactive economic system, in addition to discussing a number of experiments on the institutional transformation of the national statistical offices, and methods of using data sources.