Welcome to the Central Statistical Office website. The CSO is a Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development charged with the responsibility of taking censuses in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and collecting, compiling, analyzing and publishing statistical information relating to all social and economic activities of the people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The website is our latest venture in a host of proposed activities as we seek to meet the challenges of effectively performing our mission. As we move towards our strategic vision, it is our hope that through this website the CSO will significantly re-engineer and re-package our traditional reports and bulletins and will generate a mix of products superior and easily accessible to our clients. The website will assist to strengthen the cohesiveness and effectiveness of Trinidad and Tobago official statistics and maintain the cooperation of our data providers. Through this medium we hope to build a warm relationship of mutual respect and trust with our data providers who are really our partners in the national statistical system. Looking ahead, we envision a restructured and re-organized department with a new corporate culture, more customer focused and pro-active in meeting the needs of users. With additional funding, and a continuous process of enhancing the website we hope to provide more timely, accurate and quality statistics. This dissemination of information would help to provide greater transparency and trust.
The Statistics Act
The Central Statistical Office of Trinidad and Tobago (CSOTT) was established in 1952 by the passing of the Statistics Ordinance, Chapter 42, No. 11 of the Revised Ordinances 1952. The Ordinance was later replaced by the Statistics Act, Chapter 19:02 of the Revised Laws of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, 1982. Click here to download the Act.
Provisions
This Act Provides the legal framework for the operations of the CSO to
- Take any census in Trinidad and Tobago
- (b) Collect, compile, analyze and publish statistical information relating to all social and economic activities of the people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
- (c) Collaborate with other Government Departments in the collection, compilation, analysis and publication of statistical records of administration;
- (d) Generally organize a coordinated scheme of economic and social statistics relating to The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Delegation of functions
The Director of Statistics may, subject to the approval of the Minister, by Notification delegate any of his functions under section 4(1)(b) of the Statistics Act to a competent authority. However, no such competent authority shall exercise any such delegated functions until the appropriate regulations subject to which the Director could have exercised such functions have been made. Further, every such competent authority shall exercise such functions in accordance with this Act which apply to the exercise by the Director of his functions. Existing competent authority; Registrar General, Chief Technical Officer (Agriculture), Chief Petroleum Engineer
The Vision Statement
To be the premier information and research institution, committed to being a learning and innovative organization, staffed by well motivated personnel and enhanced through continuous quality improvement, to provide timely high quality and relevant goods and services, utilizing state of art technology for customer satisfaction.
The Mission Statement
The mission of the Central Statistical Office is to facilitate informed decision-making, through the timely provision of a quality, relevant, user-oriented and dynamic statistical service, coordinating statistical activities and promoting the adherence to statistical standards.
The Shared Values:
- Satisfied customers
- Learning organization
- Innovative
- Motivated staff
- Use of state of the art technology
- Ongoing research and development
- Continuous quality improvement
The Core Functions of the CSO
Data collection – collection of accurate primary and secondary data in a timely and efficient manner
Data processing – the transformation of raw data into information
Data Dissemination – publication of a range of statistical products in anticipation of and in response of user requirements
Marketing – building public awareness of available statistical products and promotion of interface with users
Monitoring and evaluation – development of statistical products and services, stimulation of discussion and monitoring and evaluation of all major functions
Consultancy and Training – provision of expert service on a commercial basis
Statistical Coordination – Coordination of the National Statistical System(NSS)
Services
- Library Services
- Sampling Services
- Surveys Services
- Geospatial Services
Divisions of the CSO
- Population, Social and Vital Statistics
- National Accounts
- Economic Statistics
- Agriculture Statistics
- Census and Surveys (Field Operations)
- Computer Division
- Census Management and Planning Division CMPD (Temp Contract Division created for the conduct of the 2011 Census)
- Administration Accounts and Internal Audit
The CSO’s Organisation Chart:
The CSO is a Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development and reports to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Planning and Development.