PDS Partners

UNFPA Kyrgyzstan for the integration of strategies of population and development has partners, including:

The National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic

The National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic, according to its status is a state organ, which carries out state statistical business using principles of professional independence and coordinates the accounts and statistics for the entire Kyrgyz Republic.

According to a decree by the President of the Kyrgyz Republic K. Bakiev in 2009 in the Kyrgyz Republic there will be a census of the population and housing fund. The census will be carried out according to the 2010 round of world censuses. The Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On the census of population” states that a general census of the population should be carried out once every ten years.

The National Statistics Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic has a sufficiently broad experience in the preparation, execution and processing of results, analysis and the spreading of data from the population censuses. As a result of the First national population census in 1999 more than 50 general, thematic, regional, analytical and methodical publications have been produced. They are directed at government public officials on national and local levels, ministries and state departments, scientific establishments, academic institutions, the media and a wide circle of users. The regional publications have also been widely distributed to each village. Material from the population census has been used for different state programmes, for example, the Complex Basis for Development (CBD) and the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction (NSPR) and others.

However the general population census is an expensive measure. The outlay for one inhabitant for the preparation, execution, development, publication and spreading of the results for the population census of the Kyrgyz Republic in 1999 was 0,5 euro, which at that time for example in Switzerland was more than 13 euros. On account of the lack of state budget funds, the financing for the execution, development, analysis and publication of the results of the population census of Kyrgyzstan, was generally at the expense of UNFPA Kyrgyzstan.

UNFPA and its partners are advocates for a population census and housing fund to be carried out every ten years. At the present time UNFPA is already giving support to the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic for the population census and housing fund in 2009.

The National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic (formerly The State Agency for the State Committee for Statistics of the Kyrgyz Republic) implements state statistics policy.

The word “statistics” comes from the Latin word “status”, which means the state of phenomena; stato – state, statista – statistic, state expert, statistika – a certain sum of knowledge, information about the state.

Statistics were used even in the centuries BC.  In those distant time data about the size of the population, its property ownership and state economic life state were being collected. The Chinese in the second century BC carried out a population count according to age and sex, in Ancient Rome there were statistics for the size of the population and property ownership of its citizens. The development of trade and international trade relations are the stimulus for taking statistics further.

Statistics play an exceptional role in economics and implementing social programmes in any progressive society. Accounts, material from censuses and selective inspections by state organs, provide information and opportunities for the social and economic development of the country and its regions.

The coming-into-being and development of a state is inconceivable without constant information about the processes taking place in its society. That is why the creation of an information infrastructure, the formation and use of information systems, resources, technology and the means for providing it are among the most important priorities for all contemporary states.

The Soviet statistics system in the republic has been reformed to conform to market economy conditions, it has been provided with a legislative base and given independent status.

Chronological Reference

1919-1924                    Pishpek District Statistics Bureau

1924-1926                    Regional Statistical Bureau for the Kara-Kyrgyz then the Kyrgyz autonomous region

1926-1930                    The Central Statistical Administration of the Kyrgyz SSR

1930-1932                    The statistical sector under the State Plan of the Kyrgyz SSR

1932-1941                    Administration of the People’s Economic Registration (APER)

1941-1944                    The Statistical Administration of the Kyrgyz SSR

1944-1949                    The Representative for the USSR State Plan for the Kyrgyz SSR

1949-1963                    The Statistical Administration of the Kyrgyz SSR

1963-1987                    The Central Statistical Administration under the Council of Ministers of the Kyrgyz SSR

1987-1992                    The State Committee of the Kyrgyz SSR on statistics

1992-1994                    The State Statistics Agency under the Government of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan

1994                   The State Statistics Agency under the Government of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan

From 01.08.1994          The National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic

If you ask anyone what is ‘statistics’ then you may hear a reply, close to the famous saying of the English statesman and writer Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881): “There are three kinds of lies: a lie, an impertinent lie and statistics”. Such a definition is insulting for professional statisticians and their answer would be different.

Statistics is the field of science, which is to do with the collection, analysis and interpretation (that is definition and explanation) of data. The peculiarity of statistics is that data in communicated in a quantitative form that is statistics speak in the language of figures.  

Users of statistical information prefer ‘descriptive statistics’, that is numbers characterizing something interesting to their situation: The level of unemployment, the sickness rate, the average number of children in a family, the average income, the life expectancy of the population and other exponents, with the help of which the characteristics of the sum total of data are generalized. The value of descriptive statistics consists first and foremost in the fact that it gives concise and concentrated characteristics on a given phenomenon.

Today state statistics fully answer to requirements, it uses modern methods for collection, development and communication of statistical data by using modern information technology, computer technology and means of communication.

In the reform years the state statistical system of the republic with help from international organizations, including UNFPA Kyrgyzstan has made a significant step towards integration into the world statistics arena.

At the present time about one thousand people work in the system of the National Statistical Committee. The NSC of the Kyrgyz Republic, its territorial organs, its dependent concerns and organizations make up a single state information statistical system. The structure has been built in accordance with the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On state statistics”, the Regulations for the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic and includes the Central organs, the territorial organs for statistics, the Head computing centre, the Institute for statistical research and the Training centre.

The National Statistical Committee for the Kyrgyz Republic:

-                                 Organizes and conducts statistical observations (that is the collection of information) for economic, social and demographic proceedings and the ecological situation in the country

-                                 Develops, analyses and prepares the statistical information on the basis of accounts, population censuses and selective inspections

-                                 Makes international statistical comparisons, using international statistical standards and the principles of official statistics

-                                 Develops, ratifies and introduces statistical methodology and forms of statistical accounts

-                                 Helps with the development and improvement of technology for the collection and processing of the statistic information

-                                 Provides the organs of the state authorities and local administration with essential statistic information

-                                 Distributes the statistical information (observing the confidentiality of the primary statistical data) by means of preparing statistical publications (collections, bulletins and others), with the distribution of statistical information on its Internet site and by holding press conferences and roundtables.

-                                 Provides access to official statistical information

A very important indication of the effective working of a statistical information system is its independence from the influence of political and state structures. The National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic distinct from statistical services of other states is only accountable to the head of state, the President of the Kyrgyz Republic.

In 1992 the programme for the republic’s transition into the accepted system for accounts and statistics was approved and the UN methodology was mastered, which took several years. As a result of this programme a series of exponents in the national statistics were determined, which reflected new phenomena and processes in the economics of the country. Complex measures for the transition into the system of national accounts, taken in accordance with international requirements for the statistical index for prices, population and external trade, have produced an estimate of the poverty level of the population.

In 2004 the Kyrgyz Republic was the 57^th (out of 177 countries) country in the world, which joined the Special standard for the distribution of data for the International Monetary Fund. This means a significant development in the information technology of the country.

In 1999 with help from international organizations the First national census was carried out. For the first time the input and processing of material from the census was done on computers. UNFPA Kyrygzstan provided significant financial and technical help for the census, information campaigns and publications with the results from the census.

Currently active preparation is going on again with UNFPA’s help for the next population census, which will take place in 2009 simultaneously with the housing fund census. In 2004 there was an agricultural census.

Recently the organs of state statistics with the help of international organizations, including UNFPA Kyrgyzstan were equipped with modern computer technology such as IBN and other office equipment. There is a computer in almost every place working with economic statistics.

However it is impossible to say that all the problems have been resolved. Further improvements in state statistics will be linked to developments in regional statistics, technical equipment and an increase in qualified expert statisticians.