Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) the main source of official statistics in Bangladesh. The bureau is under the Statistics Division of the Ministry of Planning, Government of Bangladesh and is accountable to and liable for acquiring, processing, preserving and publishing all types of statistical data. The statistical system of the country is mostly centralised in BBS. It was created by the government in August 1974. A separate Statistics Division was also established in July 1975. A Secretary heads the division. He heads the Bureau as its Director General. A Deputy Director General supports the Director General. In policy matters, BBS is under the administrative control of the Statistics Division.

BBS has seven functional wings: (i) population, demography and birth-death registration system; (ii) industry , trade and commerce, labour statistics and national income; (iii) agriculture statistics; (iv) industry statistics; (v) research, training and sample survey; (vi) computer data processing and statistical cartography; and (vii) reproduction, documentation and publication. Each wing is headed by a Director and is supported by other officers and staffs. To achieve the objectives of the Bureau, statistical officers have been posted at headquarters of former districts and at all upazilas of the country. District offices headed by Regional Statistical Officers, coordinate and supervise the field activities of upazila statistics offices and also undertake various sample surveys. At present, (2000 AD) there are 23 district and 460 upazila offices all over the country.

The main functions of BBS are to collect, compile, analyse, and publish statistics of all sectors of the economy to meet the needs of development planning, research, policy and decision making. The Bureau is also responsible for conducting statistical programmes such as population census, agricultural census, census of manufacturing industries, census of establishments, and other national level surveys in such fields as labour force, demographic situation, agriculture, and household income and expenditure.

BBS regularly publishes the monthly Statistical Bulletin of Bangladesh, Economic Indicator of Bangladesh, and Economic Situation of Bangladesh. Its annual publications, include Statistical Year Book, Statistical Pocket Book, Agricultural Year Book, Upazila Statistics, and Foreign Trade Statistics. Its decennial publications are Census Bulletins and Reports, Population Census National Volume, Village Population Census for Districts, Reports on the Agricultural Census of Bangladesh and Census of Manufacturing Industries. In 1999 BBS published a Report on Survey of IT Resources of Bangladesh and Identification of Y2K Problem Areas jointly with Bangladesh Computer Council of the Ministry of Science and Technology. BBS also publishes many other adhoc and subject-specific publications. [Manindra Kumar Roy]