News

Targeting (57350 households) and (33450 establishments) GASTAT conducts (12) statistical works that last until the beginning of Ramadan The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) has asked all citizens and residents whether individuals or institutions to cooperate with its statisticians who work in the field all over Saudi Arabia, and their work would last until the beginning of Ramadan. GASTAT asserted that all data are dealt with as an information base that developmental decision makers, who work in all related governmental entities, would rely on.  GASTAT spokesman, Mr. Taiseer Almofarrej said that (11317) statisticians are conducting (12) statistical research and surveys in many economic and social fields, and their works will last until the second of Ramadan. These statistical works are targeting (57350 households) and (33450 establishments) in all (13) administrative regions including all cities and governorates. The results of these works represent a base for making the related developmental decisions. On the level of statistical works that target households, GASTAT is currently conducting the households and individuals’ ICT access and usage survey 2018, the household and population characteristics survey 2018, and the labor force survey, Q2 of 2018.    On the other hand, Almofarrej clarified that the general statistics system issued by the ministers’ cabinet, all data and information provided by any citizen, resident, or establishment are kept and dealt with confidentiality. He added that the people’s cooperation with statisticians would guarantee the success of these works, and using them in supporting economic and social development accordingly.  It is worth mentioning that GASTAT is following certified international standards in choosing the sample of these works. Thus, GASTAT asks all individuals in the statistical society, either households or establishments, to cooperate with the statistician who can be identified by his official card. In addition, there is a communication center that everyone contacts on 920020081

GASTAT participates in the seventh round of OIC-StatCom The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) participates in the meetings of the seventh round of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), which are held in Ankara- Turkey, during the period 2-3 May, 2018, corresponding 16-17 Shaaban, 1439H. On the first day of the meetings, the director- general of Methodologies and Statistical Classifications has presented in details how to use administrative records and vital statistics in the next population census which will be conducted in 2020. On the other hand, the vice president for Statistical Works has met the director- general of  Statistical, Economic, and Social Research and Training Center for Islamic Countries (SESRIC),  Ambassador Musa KulaKlikaya. During their meeting, they shed light on GASTAT statistical transformation experience, and how can they reflect the experience of Saudi Arabia on other Islamic countries. Moreover, the vice president, and on behalf of all GASTAT staff, has expressed his thanks and gratitude for all the efforts exerted by the center. He assured that the authority can always provide support in different statistical fields. In the end, the center’s director-general has thanked the authority for their initiative, and expressed the center’s desire to sign a memorandum of understanding with GASTAT in the field of statistics.

GaStat: A Decline in the Real-Estate Price Indicator During the First Quarter of 2018   On Monday, the 7th of Shaaban 1439H corresponding April 23, 2018, The General Authority for Statistics (GaStat) released the report of Real Estate Price index, Q1 2018. The report is  published on GaStat official website www.stats.gov.sa.com .Furthermore, the indicator is based on the data records about real-estate’s transactions available at the Ministry of Justice, and it is an important tool to support economic and statistical decision makers regarding the changes of property prices and future forecasts during different periods of time. According to the report, the real-estate price index has recorded a decline by (1.5%) compared to the same quarter of last year (Q1, 2017). The report attributed this decline to the decrease in the main sectors composing it: the housing sector (2.0%), the commercial sector (4.4%), and the agricultural sector (0.4%).  Moreover, the indicator edged down (0.5%) compared to the previous quarter (Q4 2017) reaching (84.2%) in the first quarter of 2018 compared to (84.6%) for the previous quarter. This decline can be attributed to the main sectors composing it where they witnessed varying degrees of decline: (0.7%) for the housing sector, (0.5%) for the commercial sector and (0.1%) for the agricultural sector.  It is worth mentioning that the indicator of the Real Estate Price index, which aims at founding outstanding real-estate statistical indicators that measure the performance of Saudi real-estate market and meeting the data needs in this sector, covers three main sectors consisting of several types of real estate: housing sector which includes the following (plot of land, building, villa, apartment and house), commercial sector includes (plot of land, building, exhibition, commercial center or shop), agricultural sector with one category which is the agricultural land.

Shura Council confirms that it agrees with the transformation program of the statistical sector The General Authority for Statistics (GaStat): Shura's Comments about the Annual Report Are of Our Concern GaStat thanked the Chairman of the Shura Council and all the members for their comments and suggestions about the work of the Authority at its twenty-fifth meeting of the second year of the seventh session, in which the Council discussed the annual report of GaStat for the fiscal year 1437/1438. The official spokesman of the Authority, Mr. Tayseer Al-Mufrraj, said that GaStat is committed to consider the comments to deepen the positive impact in the development of the statistical sector in the Kingdom and to lead the statistical work. He stressed that the comments made by the members of the Shura Council are in line with the transformation program of the statistical sector carried out by the Authority.

It links data to a geographical location to analyze and extract reports GaStat Launches an “Interactive Map" to Present Statistical Data for the Services in Saudi Arabia As part of its efforts to support decision makers and policy makers and enable their customers to use statistical data and access them based on their needs, GaStat  has launched the "Interactive Map" on its official website www.stats.gov.sa  for the Services Guide that was recently released by the Authority, which is the unified reference for the services available in different regions of the Kingdom’s cities and villages. The interactive map is a technical tool that reviews statistical data by linking the statistical data to the geographical location to show the spread of the services on an interactive map for the Kingdom. This will add extra features and enable the user to make logical questions as well as spatial analysis on the services database. It also enables the user to reach the statistical data of the geographical location clearly for the different distribution of the services at the Kingdom’s level. Moreover, the interactive map provides basic data for planners, policy makers and decision makers based on the names in the administrative regions. It depends on the data classification in five major groups that include: health services, education services, higher education services, public services, statistical reports of services. The map can review the details of each service according to the service provider, which allows the user to perform a search by specifying the names that contain a specific service within a specific search, or to identify the nearest populated area on the map. It also displays the distribution of services according to the type of service or the administrative areas. Additionally, it includes a "service calculator" which is a tool for making logical queries on the database. The “services calculator” enables a logical search of all the elements of the database and it reviews the results on the map to understand the form of geomagnetic distributions of any search and the possibility to extract the results on an Excel file. The interactive map provides the totals, components and distributions of the services in Saudi Arabia at the level of its administrative regions, illustrated by graphs and geographical maps. It also offers an application designed to release statistical reports for various services at the level of the administrative region, governorate, municipality or populated area based on the needs of the user and with the possibility to print a report for the search results.

Including Aseer Region, Al baha, Jazan and Najran The General Authority for Statistics Starts the Second Phase of Updating the Guidebook for the Populated Areas, in Preparation for the 2020 Population Census In preparation for the population and houses census project (2020- 1441 AH) GaStat started to work according to a series of steps and in coordination with a number of government agencies on the technical arrangements of the implementation “for updating the populated areas guidebook”. It is considered the first field steps proceeding the census 2020 project. These steps are according to a timetable that includes all the stages of updating the guidebook for the populated names for different regions of the Kingdom and it includes: Aseer Region, Al baha Region, Jazan Region and Najran Region. In addition, there will be a number of stages that covers all the Kingdom regions during this year 2018. This project aims to update the guidebook for the populated areas in the field and to process its data by observing all the changes occurred in the guidebook. Moreover, during the updating process, the number of dwellings and establishments in the populated areas are considered and distributed to statistical work areas, also linking the populated areas to the national address, identifying the populated areas on maps and making any necessary divisions.  As well as counting the rugged areas, Badia areas and areas requiring prior coordination. On the other hand, the General authority for statistics (GaStat) has recently held the first specialized workshops to discuss the census form (2020) within a series of workshops related to the form. And that was with the participation of some experts and specialists from the GaStat, and a number of relevant government agencies. The project of population and housing census (2020- 1441 AH) aims to collect and publish the demographic, social and economic data of the population to provide the requirements of the government of basic data on population and housing to build the development plans, also the needs of researchers and planners, and to provide a new framework for all of the specialized statistical researches that are conducted based on the sample method. Additionally, finding a broad base of data and using it as a reliable source to conduct studies and researches required by the development programs, providing the data and indicators of population periodically to measure the population characteristics changes over the time, making local, regional and international comparisons, and to review, evaluate the population estimates in the future.

In order to develop the statistical sector and to follow up sustainable development goals Saudi Arabia Ends its Participation in the Works of the United Nations Statistical Commission (49th Round)   Saudi Arabia Ends its Participation in the Works of the United Nations Statistical Commission (49th Round). It started last Tuesday until yesterday evening at the United Nations headquarters which is in New York City . In addition, the delegation headed by his Excellency Dr. Fahad bin Sulaiman Altekhaifi, president of the General Authority for Statistics. He indicated that the participation was an extension of the authority strategy for international participation. Also, to benefit from the best statistical practices because it reflected on the development of the statistical sector in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, he added that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia reviewed number of development axes for the statistical sector. During the works of 49th round, there was several presentations and interventions from co-sponsor delegation over four days. AL-Tekhaifi showed the statistical transformative experience was one of the axes where the authority addressed the road map and the dimensions on which it relied. Which is focusing on the importance of the client, quality and the development of the statistical sector. He mentioned that the KSA experience concerned the participants, and the progress of the statistical surveys reflect the affectivity and the importance of the listening to the clients from government entities and data users. Where the average of the surveys perversely were not over than eleven surveys in one year, but now in 2017 there are more than forty-two field surveys. In order to meet the requirements of the government entities and data users accordance with the regional and international requirements. At the level of the international statistical classification, the president of authority indicated that the authority focused on developed the statistical sector in KSA in several trends, Such as unified the use of international statistical classifications in the statistical surveys and administrative registers of ministries, government entities and privet sectors. Moreover, its first steps were unified the use of international industrial classification for economic activities in administrative registers (ISIC4), for all sectors and entities in the country. While, sector workshops were hold and meet bilaterally to define and to raise awareness of the classification. Also, to explain the mechanism of the application, and the importance of the study of the technical fields for all entities that related to. In order to ensure the access to the identical results based on one axis for the guide. Furthermore, the authority will continued the same approach for the rest of international classifications. Where, the same approach of national classification of occupation is applied recently (ISCO-08). The work of (49) round dealt with the household surveys, while authority confirmed that the household surveys is an important and main source for the different social statistics. That's because they are an active element for all the statistical systems, which based on provide several social indicators. It also considers as an important element to provide the related data of monitor progress in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development, under multitude requirements and challenges which faced by the available data.  GaStat Have focused on conducting a share amount of survey on household in that matter. In 2017 Among all the Surveys 17 of them was a household survey, and planning on doing 20 Household survey this year. The Authority is paying a great importance in register data, and has launched a numerous number of partnerships, initiatives and projects to link all the concerned institutions in the direction to come up with data that provides a lot of statistical indicators, also reducing the need for field survey. United Nation Statistical Commission agenda included a number of topics, surrounding the open data. The participant delegators have indicated a number of steps taken by The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on activating the Open data, to establish a high-level national committee for open data, at a ministerial level, led by The General Authority of Statics. To supervise the work regarding open data in Saudi Arabia, and strengthening coordination and partnership between the parties concerned. In addition to that, the project of Saudi Statistical Portal, which the authority is working on with a number of governmental institution, that offers statistical information’s in an up-to-date and easy-to-use way. Also, applying the best technical tools to access the information quicker and better, and applying the standards of data disaggregation as an open data, by international standards. As well as developing the digital content of the portal (e-content). And Increasing the level of e-reediness, In addition, further development of legislative and regulatory framework. The portal wouldn’t be only for the Authority, it would allow the all the institution, Authority’s and Government Institutions, to display their statistics in the same modern way, and working on strengthening the content with open data. The portal will support the social participation; it will allow visitors to publish their articles. The delegators have declared that this project consist of processing the basic data of GaStat, in addition to the other governmental data and the privet sector, to serve as convertible data which could be interactive graphics. GaStat has represented Saudi Arabia in this field lately as a member of the International Labour Organization of Big data and Official States-UN, whose membership includes 22 countries and 9 international authorities’. On the other hand, GaStat have presented, through their participation, about their current experience in National Statistical Data(MASDAR) for conducting data and statistical indicators from the concerned authorities, and work with them to provide, publish and exchange data and national statistical indicators through Databases and specify electronic portals. Which support making decision in Saudi Arabia, also it’s a solid Informational bank to support Saudi Arabia 2030 Vision and National Transformation Programme 2020. GaStat have declared through the presentation that the goal of this programme is to build a comprehensive national statistical database which have all the statistical data from all the inner and outer sources to produce tabulations, indicators and analysis where the users and analysts need those data in or out of the Authority for statistical references to support decision, and making all of the development plans. On the margins of the round the participant Saudi delegates met with a number of statistical commissions relevant to housing, social and economic statistics, as well as the South Korean delegates to discuss the road map of reinstate the agreement between the two countries. It started at the United Nations headquarters which is in New York City, on the last Tuesday until yesterday evening. In addition, the delegation headed by his Excellency Fahad Ibn Sliman AL-Tekhaifi who is the president of the general authority for statistics. He indicated that the participation was an extension of the authority strategy for international participation. Also, to benefit from the best statistical practices because it reflected on the development of the statistical sector in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, he added that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia reviewed number of development axes for the statistical sector. During the work of (49) round there was several presentations and interventions from co-sponsor delegation over four days. AL-Tekhaifi showed the statistical transformative experience was one of the axes where the authority addressed the road map and the dimensions on which it relied. Which is focusing on the importance of the client, quality and the development of the statistical sector. He mentioned that the KSA experience concerned the participants, and the progress of the statistical surveys reflect the affectivity and the importance of the listening to the clients from government entities and data users. Where the average of the surveys perversely were not over than eleven surveys in one year, but now in 2017 there are more than forty-two field surveys. In order to meet the requirements of the government entities and data users accordance with the regional and international requirements. At the level of the international statistical classification, the president of authority indicated that the authority focused on developed the statistical sector in KSA in several trends, Such as unified the use of international statistical classifications in the statistical surveys and administrative registers of ministries, government entities and privet sectors. Moreover, its first steps were unified the use of international industrial classification for economic activities in administrative registers (ISIC4), for all sectors and entities in the country. While, sector workshops were hold and meet bilaterally to define and to raise awareness of the classification. Also, to explain the mechanism of the application, and the importance of the study of the technical fields for all entities that related to. In order to ensure the access to the identical results based on one axis for the guide. Furthermore, the authority will continued the same approach for the rest of international classifications. Where, the same approach of national classification of occupation is applied recently (ISCO-08). The work of (49) round dealt with the household surveys, while authority confirmed that the household surveys is an important and main source for the different social statistics. That's because they are an active element for all the statistical systems, which based on provide several social indicators. It also considers as an important element to provide the related data of monitor progress in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development, under multitude requirements and challenges which faced by the available data. GaStat Have focused on conducting a share amount of survey on household in that matter. In 2017 Among all the Surveys 17 of them was a household survey, and planning on doing 20 Household survey this year. The Authority is paying a great importance in register data, and has launched a numerous number of partnerships, initiatives and projects to link all the concerned institutions in the direction to come up with data that provides a lot of statistical indicators, also reducing the need for field survey. United Nation Statistical Commission agenda included a number of topics, surrounding the open data. The participant delegators have indicated a number of steps taken by The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on activating the Open data, to establish a high-level national committee for open data, at a ministerial level, led by The General Authority of Statics. To supervise the work regarding open data in Saudi Arabia, and strengthening coordination and partnership between the parties concerned. In addition to that, the project of Saudi Statistical Portal, which the authority is working on with a number of governmental institution, that offers statistical information’s in an up-to-date and easy-to-use way. Also, applying the best technical tools to access the information quicker and better, and applying the standards of data disaggregation as an open data, by international standards. As well as developing the digital content of the portal (e-content). And Increasing the level of e-reediness, In addition, further development of legislative and regulatory framework. The portal wouldn’t be only for the Authority, it would allow the all the institution, Authority’s and Government Institutions, to display their statistics in the same modern way, and working on strengthening the content with open data. The portal will support the social participation; it will allow visitors to publish their articles. The delegators have declared that this project consist of processing the basic data of GaStat, in addition to the other governmental data and the privet sector, to serve as convertible data which could be interactive graphics. GaStat has represented Saudi Arabia in this field lately as a member of the International Labour Organization of Big data and Official States-UN, whose membership includes 22 countries and 9 international authorities’. On the other hand, GaStat have presented, through their participation, about their current experience in National Statistical Data(MASDAR) for conducting data and statistical indicators from the concerned authorities, and work with them to provide, publish and exchange data and national statistical indicators through Databases and specify electronic portals. Which support making decision in Saudi Arabia, also it’s a solid Informational bank to support Saudi Arabia 2030 Vision and National Transformation Programme 2020. GaStat have declared through the presentation that the goal of this programme is to build a comprehensive national statistical database which have all the statistical data from all the inner and outer sources to produce tabulations, indicators and analysis where the users and analysts need those data in or out of the Authority for statistical references to support decision, and making all of the development plans. On the margins of the round the participant Saudi delegates met with a number of statistical commissions relevant to housing, social and economic statistics, as well as the South Korean delegates to discuss the road map of reinstate the agreement between the two countries.

Aiming to raise statistical awareness among students by using a scientific and attractive way GaStat starts receiving students in “ The smart statistitician” exhibition in cooperation with “Scitech” Khobar As part of its plan to raise statistical awareness among all society categories including school students, GaStat organizes the exhibition of “ The smart statistitician” in cooperation with Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Centre for Science and Technology “ Scitech” in Al Khobar city. The exhibition events are held in the centre during the period 9-20 Jumada the second 1439 H corresponding 25th of February- 8th of March 2018.  The exhibition which targets the students of intermediate schools, aims at showing how important is statistics in the life of students by using a scientific and attractive way. It also aims at identifying the most distinct concepts associated with statistics, in addition to raising the level of statistical awareness among students. Furthermore, this exhibition enhances the students’ recognition of the role of statistical entities and field statisticians, and the role of provided data accuracy on development as students are considered effective tools in conveying what they learn to their households.  The exhibition starts receiving the students by a demo video, so the students can get new scientific information in an attractive and entertaining way. The video will introduce statistics, the difference between statistics and mathematics, the General Authority for Statistics’ role, the role of students and households in GaStat work, and the way statistical research are implemented by simulating this experience and making students act like statisticians in their household visits.  The exhibition, which opens at 9 AM and closes at 1 PM (week days), includes many competitions such as the competition of the regions and numbers which aims at providing information about the population numbers in each region. There is also the competition of statistical symbols which teaches students about the importance of population and housing census and all statistical surveys in general.

The Prince of the Eastern Province, Prince Ahmad Bin Fahad Values the Role of GaStat in Providing Updated Data and Statistics to All Government Entities His Royal Highness the deputy prince of Eastern Province, prince Ahmad bin Fahad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz welcomed his excellency the President of the General Authority for Statistics, Dr. Fahad bin Salman Altukhifi and his delegation at his office in the principality court today Sunday. His Highness reviewed the latest data of the Eastern Province within the Services Guide 2017, released by the Authority through its website. Additionally, he stressed that this high-level movement comes from the support and follow- up by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, may Allah protect them. Furthermore, it aims to push forward the Comprehensive Economic Development, as well as it spurs all government bodies including GaStat to work positively with the requirements of the stage. Also, he appreciated the role of GaStat in providing updated data and statistics to all government entities that support decision and policy makers. His excellency the President of GaStat, Dr. Fahad Altukhifi clarified that the Eastern Region is witnessing a development on various levels led by his Highness the prince of the province and his deputy that lead us to follow these steps in the General Authority for Statistics, reflecting the numbers which are important indicators for the development across all governorates and regions. Moreover, he pointed out that the Services Guide 2017 published by the Authority through its website, includes statistics of services for the kingdom’s cities and villages. As well as it considers a unified official reference to the services of all governmental and non-governmental bodies available at different regions of the kingdom at the level of its cities and villages. Where it contributes to the processes of planning and establishing future visions for development services to benefit the citizens in all kingdom’s regions. The Guide, in which 27 governmental entities contributed to its preparation to be as a source of information for data, aims to provide geographic database for each populated area that has an accredited service, database on educational services, health services, social and development services, beside public services, administrative services, financial and banking services, as well as providing database for the most important service facilities at the level of kingdom’s regions.