History of Statistics in Slovakia

1715 - is considered to be a beginning of organized statistical surveys in Slovakia, when countrywide registering of population was conducted in Hungary. It was concentrated on heads of households of the groups that were under taxation.

1767- 71 - in these years, a registering of servile population (a document from urbarium regulation) was conducted. The register contains data on number of farmers, peasants and their property and legal stratification.

1787- 85 - the first census of the whole population in Hungary under the reign of Jozef II. There were recorded name, age, marital status, class status, and ocupation of registered persons, and also data on routine movement of population. 

1804 - 05 - follow-up registering of population in Hungary were conducted in these years.

1828 - follow-up registering of population in Hungary.

1847 - the Central Statistical Office, which performed regular statistical service in Hungary, was constituted. (Its activity related also to the territory of today´s Slovakia, but statistical data were surveyed and evaluated according to regions and chairs). 

1919 - According to the Act No. 49/1919 on organization of statistical service in the Czechoslovak Republic, bodies of state statistics were established. On the base of this Act and the Government Regulation of the Czechoslovak Republic, the State Statistical Council as an advisory body and the State Statistical Office as an executive body were constituted. The task of the Statistical Office was to collect statistical material of all kinds needed for administration and science, and to concentrate the whole administrative statistics of all departments. Activity of the State Statistical Office was administered by the plan approved by the Statistical State Council.

1938 - 45 - two state statistical offices existed - one in Prague and one in Bratislava. In the period of extraordinary state and legal situation, from 1 October 1939 the name of the Office was changed to the Central Statistical Office and the State Statistical Office was constituted in Slovakia in 1940.

1945 - after the end of World War II, the Czech National Council renewed formally and solemnly the activity of the State Statistical Office. In Slovakia, the Decree of the Slovak National Council No. 48/1945 Coll. constituted the State Planning and Statistical Office.  A special agreement between the Government of the Czechoslovak Republic and the Slovak National Council was signed in 1946, by which a principle of nationwide integrity of statistical service was recognized. The Act No. 60/1949 Coll. on economic planning specified that the State Statistical Office should be under the President of the State Planning Office. At the same time, the State Planning and Statistical Office in Bratislava was dissolved by this Act.

1951 - The Act No. 108/1951 Coll. on organization of statistical service was issued. This Act determined the State Statistical Office as a governmental body for the field of statistics. At the same time, the Slovak Statistical Office (as a body of the State Statistical Office) directly subordinated to the State Statistical Office was constituted in Slovakia.

1960 - a follow-up institutional adjustment relating to Slovakia was executed. The Slovak Statistical Office was dissolved by the Governmental Decree No. 102/1960 Coll. Within the Slovak Planning Commission, the statistical and documentation department was established.

1961 -The Act No. 56/1961 dissolved the State Statistical Office (and the Ministry of State Control as well) and a new body - the Central Office of State Control and Statistics was constituted.

1967 - The legal measure of the National Assembly No. 1/1967 on changes in organization and field of activity of some of the central bodies was issued. Independent body of the state statistics - the State Statistical Office was again constituted. The Slovak Statistical Office was constituted as a body of the Slovak National Council. At the same time, the Statistical Council was established in the State Statistical Office as well as in the Slovak Statistical Office, but this Council was broadly different as for a field of activity and a position from the Statistical Council constituted in 1919. The same legal measure dealt also with the regional statistical bodies, which were marked as district and regional sections of the State Statistical Office.

1968 - federative system of the Czechoslovak state caused changes also in institutional system of central bodies of state administration. The Act No. 170/1968 Coll. constituted the Federal Statistical Office. The Act of the Slovak National Council No. 207/1968 Coll. on the establishment of ministries and other central state administrative bodies of the Slovak Socialist Republic constituted the Slovak Statistical Office and the Statistical Council.  Likewise, the Act of the Czech National Council No. 2/1969 Coll. constituted the Czech Statistical Office (the Statistical Council was not established by this Act).

1971 - Division of tasks among the three central statistical offices till 1971 was handled largely by the system of specific agreements. The issue of the Act No. 21/1971 Coll. on a unitary system of socioeconomic information was an important turning point. This Act changed a position and a field of activity of the Federal Statistical Office. Questions relating to the Czech and the Slovak Statistical Office were amended by the acts of the Czech National Council (No. 40/1972 Coll.) and the Slovak National Council (No. 41/1972 Coll.). These acts amended regional statistical bodies. Name ?regional offices? was introduced for regional bodies, city offices were established in Prague and in Bratislava, district departments in districts and city departments in some towns.

1990 - By the Act of the SNC No. 347/1990, bodies of state administration were formed, among which the Slovak Statistical Office for the field of social and economic information was constituted. Further on, the Act stipulates to all bodies of state administration to ensure cooperation with relevant federal organizations in the field of common interest of the Federative Republic. It related to the Federal Statistical Office in the field of statistics.

1992 - in this year, bodies for the field of state statistics of the Slovak Republic - the Slovak Statistical Office (SSO) and regional statistical bodies were set by the Act of the SNC No. 322/1992 on state statistics. Regional office of the SSO in Bratislava, Banská Bystrica and Košice, municipal office of the SSO for the area of Bratislava, district departments of the SRO for territorial districts and municipal departments of the SSO in Košice for territorial district Košice. In this year, ministries and other bodies of state administration of the SR started with activities that were ensured until that time by the central bodies of state administration of the CSFR in relevant range.

1997 - After amending the Act of the SNC No. 322/1992, the full wording of the Act of the NC SR No. 38/1997 on state statistics was issued constituting the Statistical Office of the SR and regional bodies of statistics - Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Bratislava, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Trnava, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Trenčín, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Nitra, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Žilina, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Banská Bystrica, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Prešov, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Košice. The Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic is a central body of state administration of the Slovak Republic for the field of state statistics and for the field of informatics. 

2002 - The new Act No. 540/2001 Coll. on state statistics came into force 1 January 2002. On the base of this Act, legal subjectivity of regional offices (with seat in Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra, Trenčín, Žilina, Banská Bystrica, Košice and in Prešov, which took part in fulfilling the tasks of the SO SR in the fields by relevant specialization for the whole territory of the Slovak Republic in 1996 - 2001) was cancelled from 1 January 2002 and regional offices became directly a part of the Office as its internal organizational units. The Act created a space for strengthening stability and independence of the Office by enacting appointment and recalling of the President of the Office by the President of the SR on a proposal of the Slovak Government with the term of office for five years (with a possibility to re-appoint the same person only for two consequent terms of office).

2003 - The fact that the Program of State Statistical Surveys for the period of three years (2003 - 2005) came into effect for the first time was a significant contribution in methodological, organizational and technological preparation of state statistical surveys. The three-year program strengthened activities of the state statistics of the SR, ensured connection to a program of statistical activity of the European Union and provided higher reference ability to users of statistical information and reporting units. Besides this, the Office put together the list of administrative data sources that became a part of the program of statistical surveys in compliance with the Governmental Decision of the SR (No. 1207/2001). It realized the first steps to more effective use of statistical data and created a possibility to substitute statistical surveys by data from existed administrative sources.

2005 - For the SO SR, the year 2005 was not only the first year of a membership of Slovakia in the European Union, but also the first year of realization of a new development strategy of the SO SR.  In connection with the admission of the Slovak Republic to the European Union, representatives of the SO SR began to take part in meetings of working groups and committees of the European Council and the European Commission as a full member with the right to comment proposals of legal acts in the field of statistics and to vote on their acceptance. The European Statistics Code of Practice accepted by the Statistical Program Committee of the European Commission became a significant challenge. The aim of the Code is to increase confidence in independence, integrity and accountability of national statistical offices and EUROSTAT as institutions as well as to strengthen a confidence in credibility and quality of statistics produced and provided by these institutions.

2006 - having in mind the needs for constant improvement of national statistical system, the Office has started to implement the Code of Practice on European Statistics, and with help of World Bank elaborated the plan for development of Slovak Statistical System -  Statistical Master Plan. The SOSR successfully finished the work on the first inventory of sources and methods for compilation of national accounts and substantial revision of the system of national accounts for 1995 - 2004, in compilation of quarterly results of gross domestic product it has started to publish flash estimates of GDP and employment. Out of its many further tasks could be mentioned participation in international research EU - SILC, preparation of census of population and housing in 2011 and establishment of database of regional statistics REGSTAT. The quality of work in state statistics was awarded by Quality Certificate ISO 9001:2000 in November 2006.

2007 - Optimisation of state statistics was the priority of the year. It mostly concerned the revision of reporting system, concentrated on reducing the burden on reporting units and reducing the costs on surveys. The Office intensified the works related to upcoming entry of the SR into the Euro zone and to changeover to new currency euro. The Office completed successfully all the works in the field of national accounts, and in business statistics created the conditions for regular production and transmission of data files on internal and external foreign affiliates. The legislative intent of the act on 2011 population and housing census has laid the foundation for creation of wide source of information necessary for prognosis of the trends in demography and for decision-making in social policy of the state. Great progress was made in dissemination and provision of information by putting the new internet portal into operation and by on-line database of regional statistics. The Office, as an integral part of the European Statistical System, has actively participated on initiatives towards the system development, creation of statistical legislation, introduction of new statistical procedures and methods, and increase of comparability and quality of statistical data. The development of the management quality system has continued, as well as implementation of the Code of Practice into all fields. The team of the experts of the European Statistical System has stated, after the examination of implementation, that the SOSR is the professional and well performing institution.

2008 - in this year, when the Office celebrated the 15th anniversary of its existence, the Office management realized many significant steps towards further development. One of them was accepting of the Development Strategy of SOSR to 2012 and therefore the Office aimed mostly at improving the quality of product portfolio, increasing the efficiency of internal environment and improving the quality of relations with external environment. In compliance with the objective to provide customers comfort access to information and to satisfy their requirements as full as possible, the Office focused on a development of the Internet portal, in particular, on a creation of interactive services. Increased attention was paid to rationalization of statistical surveys with the aim to decrease gradually a response burden. It also continued in fulfilling tasks of the National Plan of Euro Changeover. Macro-economic statistics were aimed at a preparation of the report on the level of deficit and debt of public administration, on decadal monitoring of prices of selected goods and services in the Slovak Korunas and in Euro and on the survey of national and harmonized index of consumer prices with the aim to objectify perceived inflation. Centre of works of business statistics was aimed mostly at implementation of the new classification of economic activities SK-NACE Rev.2. The adoption of the Act of the NC SR created conditions for preparation and realization of Census of population and housing 2011 as well as conditions for obtaining information required for forecasting the development of population and conditions for preparation of measures in the national social policy. The Statistical Office also continued in realization of the survey on incomes and living conditions of households EU SILC. One of the permanent priorities was traditionally also international cooperation and co-participation at international statistical activities. A recognition of the performed work of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in the last period was spoken in the speech of the President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič on occasion of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic at the ceremonial conference held on 26 May 2008 in the congress hall of the National Bank of Slovakia.