Methodology and Quality Update

Methodology and Quality last update

25/05/2025

Statistical Presentation

Data description

Introduction to The Digital Economy Survey:
The Digital Economy Survey was conducted by the General Authority for Statistics as part of the digital economy statistics, recognizing the importance of this activity and its modern techniques. All aspects of individuals' and communities' lives worldwide have witnessed a radical transformation in light of the rapid development of modern technologies, leading to the transformation of traditional economic processes and activities into digital ones. Its importance lies in providing data on the digital economy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to meet the demands of international, regional, and local organizations and entities.
The Digital Economy Statistics Survey is conducted with the following objectives:
•    Providing a data source to help calculate the contribution of the digital economy to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
•    Identifying important indicators related to the digital economy.
The main targeted indicators include:
The contribution of the digital economy to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Classification system

The following classifications are applied in the digital economy survey:
The National Classification for Economic Activities (ISIC4): 
The statistical classification based on the International Standard of Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC4) is used to describe productive activities of an establishment.
The classifications are available on GASTAT’s website www.stats.gov.sa

Sector coverage

The Digital Economy Survey covers all economic activities.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Terminologies and Concepts of the Digital Economy Survey:
•    Digital Economy:
The digital economy consists of economic activities that are conducted or facilitated through digital technologies. This definition indicates that the digital economy includes all economic activities that rely on digital inputs or are significantly enhanced through the use of digital inputs, including digital technologies, digital infrastructure, digital services, and data.
•    Establishment:
An establishment is an economic unit with a legal entity (holding a commercial registration) engaged in a specific economic activity. It may be owned by an individual, a group of individuals, a company, a semi-governmental sector, or an institution.
•    Economic Activity:
The economic activity of any establishment is defined as all work or services the establishment performs that generate revenue. Sometimes, the establishment may not earn financial returns from its activities, such as charitable organizations that rely on donations. In the case of multiple economic activities within a single establishment, the one with the highest revenue is selected. The classification of economic activities for establishments is based on the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC4).
•    ICT sector definition
The definition of this sector provides a statistical basis for the measurement, in an internationally comparable way, of that part of economic activity that is generated by the production of ICT goods and services. The following general principle (definition) is used to identify ICT economic activities (industries):“The production (goods and services) of a candidate industry must primarily be intended to fulfill or enable the function of information processing and communication by electronic means, including transmission and display.”
The activities (industries) in the ICT sector can be grouped into ICT manufacturing industries, ICT trade industries and ICT services industries.

Statistical unit

The statistical unit is the economic establishment.

Statistical population

The statistical population consists of all economic establishments that have commercial registrations with government entities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Reference area

The survey sample is a representative sample of Saudi Arabia’s 13 administrative regions.

Time coverage

Data is available from 2022 to 2023.

Base period

Not applicable.

Unit of measure

Most of the results are calculated as percentages (e.g., The contribution of the digital economy to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Reference period

The reference period for the variables or dataset is the year 2023.

Confidentiality 

 Confidentiality - policy

According to the Royal Decree No. 23 dated 07-12-1397, data must always be kept confidential, and must be used by GASTAT only for statistical purposes.
Therefore, the data are protected in the data servers of the Authority.

Confidentiality - data treatment

Data are displayed in appropriate tables to facilitate its summarization, comprehension, results extraction, comparison with other data and coming up with statistical connotations for the study community. It is also easier to check tables without the need to see the original questionnaire, which usually include data like names and addresses of individuals, names of data providers, which violates the confidentiality of statistical data.
“Anonymity of data” is one of the most important procedures. To keep data confidential, GASTAT removed personal information of individuals, households, or business entities in a way that does not allow the identification of the respondent either directly (by name, address, contact number, identity number etc.) or indirectly (by combining different - especially rare - characteristics of respondents: age, occupation, education etc.).

Release policy

Release calendar

The Digital Economy Survey has been included in the statistical calendar.

Release calendar access

Available on the: https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/future-releases

User access

One of GASTAT’s objectives is to better meet its clients' needs, so it immediately provides them with the publication’s results once the Digital Economy Publication is published.
It also receives questions and inquiries from the clients about the Publication and its results through various communication channels, such as:
•    GASTAT’s official website: www.stats.gov.sa
•    GASTAT’s official e-mail address: info@stats.gov.sa
•    Client Support’s e-mail address: info@stats.gov.sa
•    Official visits to GASTAT’s official head office in Riyadh or one of its branches in Saudi Arabia.
•    Official letters.
•    Statistical telephone (199009).

Frequency of dissemination

Annual. 

Accessibility and clarity

News release

The announcements of each publication are available on release calendar as mentioned in 7.2. Release calendar access. The news release can be viewed on the website of GASTAT through the following link:
 https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/news

Publications

GASTAT issues Digital Economy publications and reports on a regular basis following a pre-prepared release calendar and available on GASTAT’s website. GASTAT is keen to publish its publications in a manner that serves all users of different types, including publications in different formats that contain (publication tables, data graphs, indicators, Methodology and Quality Report, and used questionnaires) in both English and Arabic.
The Digital Economy publications are available on the link:
https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/statistics

On-line database

Not available.

Micro-data access 

Microdata are unit-level datasets derived from surveys, censuses, and administrative records. These datasets provide detailed insights into individuals, households, businesses, and geographic areas, supporting the development of statistical indicators and in-depth research.
The different types of microdata files to meet different information needs:
•    Public use:
It consists sets of records containing information on individual persons, households, or business entities anonymized in such a way that the respondent cannot be identified either directly (by name, address, contact number, identity number etc.) or indirectly (by combining different - especially rare - characteristics of respondents: age, occupation, education etc.).
•    Scientific use:
These files established based on specific methodology asked by data requester to extract the datasets with specific characteristics used for strategic studies and decision making as well scientific research purposes on individuals, households and enterprises with no direct identifiers, which have been subject to control methods to protect confidentiality.
Access to Scientific Use Files (SUF) is restricted to authorized researchers who comply with ethical and confidentiality standards. Representative samples of SUF can be obtained through GASTAT's secure platform, "Etaha," while more sensitive datasets are accessible only through secure physical lab environments managed by GASTAT.

Other

Not available.

Documentation on methodology

The Digital Economy Survey is based on the following international recommendations, standards, concepts, definitions, and classifications:
•    A Roadmap toward a Common Framework for Measuring the Digital Economy – Report of the G20 Digital Economy Task Force, Saudi Arabia 2020, issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
•    Manual for the Production of Statistics on the Digital Economy 2020, issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/dtlstict2021d2_en.pdf

Quality documentation

Quality documentation covers documentation on methods and standards for assessing, measuring, and monitoring the quality of statistical process and output. It is based on standard quality criteria such as relevance, accuracy and reliability, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability, and coherence.

Quality management

Quality assurance

GASTAT declares that it considers the following principles: impartiality, user orientated, quality of processes and output, effectiveness of statistical processes, reducing the workload for respondents. 
Quality controls and validation of data are actions carried out throughout the process in different stages such as the data input and data collection and other final controls.

 Quality assessment

GASTAT performs all statistical activities according to a national model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality issues related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions.

Relevance

User needs 

Internal users at the General Authority for Statistics of Digital Economy data:
•    The National Accounts Department.
There are also key external users who greatly benefit from digital economy data, including:
•    Government entities.
•    Regional and international organizations.
•    Research institutions.
•    Media outlets.
 

The disseminated key variables that are mostly used by key users: 

User satisfaction
Not available.

Completeness

Digital economy data is based on information collected from a sample of economic establishments representing various economic sectors across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in order to provide comprehensive information on digital economy statistics indicators. The data is in a complete state.

Accuracy and reliability 

Overall accuracy

•    The data collected is improved through the researchers, that have been selected according to a set of practical and objective criteria and training program related to the field of work.
•    The electronic data collection form of the Digital economy questionnaire includes.
•    Alert, prevention rules and correction rules during the data collection process to improve data quality. 
•    The data is checked with previous years to identify any significant changes in the data. The internal consistency of the data is checked before it is finalized.
•    The links between variables are checked and coherence between different data series is confirmed. 

Timeliness and punctuality 

Timeliness 

The General Authority for Statistics applies the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to this standard, all statistical agencies are required to publish data on an annual basis, with a time lag not exceeding half a year (180 days) after the end of the reference period. If the data comes from different source datasets, it may be published at a different frequency.

Punctuality

Publication is carried out according to the release dates listed in the statistical calendar for the digital economy on the official webpage of the General Authority for Statistics.
The data is made available at the scheduled time, as outlined in the statistical calendar. In the event of any delay in publication, the reasons will be provided.

Coherence and comparability

Comparability - geographical

Data are geographically comparable.

Comparability - over time 

The survey was launched in 2022 and is conducted annually on a yearly basis.

Coherence- cross domain 

Not applicable. 

Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics 

Not applicable. 

Coherence- National Accounts 

Not applicable.

Coherence - internal 

The digital economy estimates have full internal consistency, as they are all based on the same accurate dataset and are calculated using the same estimation methods.

Resources used

Data revision

Data revision - policy

Not applicable, only final results will be published.

Data revision - practice

Not applicable, only final results will be published.

Statistical processing

 Source data

The Digital Economy Survey is the primary source for digital economy statistics. It is worth noting that the digital economy contribution was calculated based on the updated Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As for the data related to the number of commercial registrations in e-commerce, software publishing, and cloud computing services, administrative registry data issued by the Ministry of Commerce was used.
The key published indicators for digital economy data include:
•    The digital economy’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Frequency of data collection 

Annual.

Data collection

Data collection from the survey:
The Digital Economy Survey data collection is carried out through Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI), Computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI), and Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI). 

Data validation

Data are reviewed and matched to ensure their accuracy and precision in a way that suits their nature with the aim of giving the presented statistics quality and accuracy.
The data of the publication's current year are compared with the data of the previous year to ensure their integrity and consistency in preparation for processing data and extracting and reviewing results.
In addition to the data processing and tabulation to check their accuracy, all the outputs are stored and uploaded to the database after being calculated by GASTAT to be reviewed and processed by specialists in the Digital Economy through modern technologies and software designed for this purpose.

Data compilation

Data Coding:
In the Digital Economy Survey, interviewers collect, from respondents, a detailed description of each field. This information is then coded in-house by an automated process, which is reviewed by a small dedicated team of coding experts using a series of consistency checks.
Data Editing:
Specialists of (Statistical dept. name) Department have processed and analyzed data in this stage, and this step was based on the following measures:
•    Sort and arrange data in groups or different categories in a serial order.
•    Summarize detailed data into main points or main data.
•    Linking between many parts of data and making them connected.
•    Process incomplete or missing data.
•    Process illogical data.
•    Converting data into statistically significant data.
•    Organize, display, and interpret data.
Imputation (for Non-Response or Incomplete Data Sets):
The Authority uses the following methods to compensate for missing data in the Digital Economy Survey:
•    Utilizing measures of central tendency at the level of targeted strata to impute values
•     Utilizing measures of dispersion at the level of targeted strata to impute values.
•     Using administrative records data.
Estimation and Weighting:
After processing the data collected from responding establishments, survey weights were generated to produce indicator tables. This involved two main steps:
•    Adjustment for non-response
•     Weight calibration
Applied Statistical Estimates:
The General Authority for Statistics adopted internationally recognized formulas to calculate the key indicators, as follows:
•    Percentage of establishments that used systems or devices connected to the Internet:
Number of establishments that used systems or devices connected to the Internet / Number of establishments that used the Internet.

Adjustment

Not applicable, only final results will be published.