Mission:
To generate useful statistics in an independent and thorough manner, with a specific focus on professionalism, confidentiality, objectivity, accuracy, reliability and promptness.
Vision:
To build a sustainable statistical agency that is the leader in providing quality official statistics for the benefit of the nation of St. Maarten and international community.
About the Department of Statistics
On July 5th 2010, the statistics responsibility was transferred to St. Maarten in preparation for its new constitutional status which was successfully realized on October 10, 2010. The Department of Statistics (STAT), is the entity officially charged with the collection, analysis and dissemination of statistical information for the new country St. Maarten. This task was formerly the responsibility of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) of the former Netherlands Antilles.
The main legislation governing the functioning of the statistics authority include:
- Statistieklandsverordening (AB 2013, GT no.450)
- Landsverordening Volkstellingen (AB 2013, GT no.544)
- Landsbesluit Sociaal-economische statistieken (AB 2013, GT no. 452)
- The St. Maarten Department of Statistics, has grown from a small staff of 2 persons to the current staff complement of 12. Critical to the development of the department and its ability to provide quality, relevant and consistent statistics is continued capacity building of its human resources and improvement of the statistical infrastructure.
STAT's focus is on ensuring the continuity and advancement of statistics related to the economic, demographic, social and environmental status of the St. Maarten community. Statistical information is produced through censuses, inter-censal surveys and administrative sources. In order to carry out its mandate, STAT relies heavily on the participation of households and the business community during its survey activities.
STAT continues to also forge lasting relationships with key stakeholders in the public and private sectors in order to facilitate the exchange of data and allow for more complete statistical services.
Methods
The Department of Statistics (STAT), St. Maarten generates statistics on the premise of international statistical definitions and standards. The team refers to methodological guidelines as set by the United Nations Statistical Division and associated UN branches, as well as other renown organizations and use these as a basis in its research design.
Various international classifications are used to compile and categorize local data, which allows for collected data to be presented and reported in a standardized manner and makes it possible to compare our statistics across regional and international borders. STAT utilizes classifications for the following types of data: education levels, occupations, Economic Activities(industries) and merchandise imports/exports.