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Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS; ; also known as the Central Statistic Bureau, or the Central Statistical Bureau) is the national statistical office of North Korea. Recent
censuses A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
of North Korea have been conducted by CBS. It has also published statistics about electricity. Very little is known about the bureau or its staff, and even its ability to compose accurate statistics is in dispute. Their accuracy has been disputed by various
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
organizations and foreign observers.


History

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) was founded in 1952 under the State Planning Commission of North Korea, but the relationship between these two organizations today is not known. CBS held the first North Korean census in 1989. Before that, the most up-to-date population figures were available from 1963. Usually, statistical affairs in North Korea are run by the Bureau, but some statistics such as those pertaining to the total population and mortality, are done by a separate organization called the Population Division, which was founded in 1993 in time for the 1993 census. Before the census, the CBS tallied the population based on numbers in the "population registration system" maintained by local administrative levels. The newest North Korean census in 2008 was carried out by the CBS, and the next one was scheduled for 2018. It also makes statistics about the country's energy.


Organization

CBS is the national statistical office of North Korea. It is headquartered in Inhung-Dong of Moranbong District of the capital, Pyongyang. It has branches in all provinces. Its Director General since 2014 is Ri Sung-ho. He was preceded by Kim Chang-su, who was formerly the Director of the Bureau since March 1990 before becoming its Director General in March 1996. Before him, Shin Gyeon-sik was the Director General since May 1990. The Bureau is part of the
state planning A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, parti ...
apparatus by reporting directly to the
Administrative Council Administrative Council () was a part of Council of State of the Congress Poland. Introduced by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815, it was composed of 5 ministers, special nominees of the King and the Namestnik of the Kingdom of Polan ...
. The Bureau is directly under the
Cabinet of North Korea The Cabinet of North Korea (''Naegak'') is, according to the Constitution of North Korea, the administrative and executive body and a general state-management organ in the Government of North Korea. The Cabinet's principal newspaper is '' Minju ...
.


Criticism

The abilities of the Bureau to compile accurate statistics are "an open question". Although the Bureau was founded to collect data for the purposes of administration and economic control, it is unclear if it has access to information about all sectors of the North Korean economy today. Nothing is known about the number and training of its staff. Since the late 1960s, the Bureau has published a mere two reports. Kim Il-sung himself asserted that statistics compiled by the Bureau are subject to national security considerations and, as such, are not inherently public.
Nicholas Eberstadt Nicholas Eberstadt (born 1955) is an American political economist. He holds the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a political think tank. He is also a Senior Adviser to the National Bureau of Asia ...
illustrates the Bureau's problem with low-quality statistics based on his exchange with its officials in 1990: "In trying to ascertain the definition of an 'urban area' in the DPRK, it soon became clear that there was, in fact, no standard specification demarcating 'urban' and 'rural' communities". Instead, populated places are classified as rural or urban on an ''ad hoc'' basis. According to Eberstadt, while CBS officials recognized the shortcomings of their methods, one official resorted to joking about his organization being tasked with mere "rubber statistics". In 1989 it sent population data to the United Nations Population Fund to secure help in organizing the first national census since independence in 1948. These figures might have been purposely distorted. In 1997, North Korea sent GNP per capita statistics compiled by the Bureau to the
UN Budget and Finance Committee The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
in the hopes of lowering its
United Nations membership The United Nations member states are the sovereign states that are members of the United Nations (UN) and have equal representation in the UN General Assembly. The UN is the world's largest intergovernmental organization. The criteri ...
fee. Just a year later, the Bureau reported very different statistics to secure funding from two other UN agencies, the United Nations Development Programme and the International Monetary Fund. In 2002, it sent data about the nutrition of infants and mothers to UNICEF and
WFP The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен� ...
. These figures, though excluding some large populated areas, showed such remarkable improvement in nutrition that they were doubted in the UN organizations. In spite of the controversy, the figures were eventually accepted. According to Aidan Foster-Carter, a fellow at
Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , t ...
:


See also

* 1993 North Korea Census * 2008 North Korea Census *
Demographics of North Korea The demographics of North Korea are determined through national censuses and international estimates. The Central Bureau of Statistics of North Korea conducted the most recent census in 2008, where the population reached 24 million inhabitants ...
*
Economy of North Korea The economy of North Korea is a centrally planned economy, following ''Juche'', where the role of market allocation schemes is limited, although increasing. , North Korea continues its basic adherence to a centralized command economy. With a t ...
*
Energy in North Korea Energy in North Korea describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in North Korea. North Korea is a net energy exporter. Primary energy use in North Korea was 224 TWh and 9 TWh per million people in 2009.
*
International rankings of North Korea North Korea ranks as the third least democratic country in the world in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, while The Heritage Foundation and '' The Wall Street Journal''s Index of Economic Freedom places the country as the one ...
*
Jangmadang Jangmadang (), , are North Korean local markets, farmers' markets, black markets and bazaars. Since the North Korean famine in the 1990s, they have formed a large informal economy, and the government has become more lenient towards them. Ho ...
*'' Songbun''


References


Works cited

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Further reading

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External links


Central Bureau of Statistics data
at
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is a research institute working in the area of global health statistics and impact evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle. The Institute is headed by Christopher J.L. Murray ...
{{Authority control North Korea Organizations established in 1952 1952 establishments in North Korea Research institutes in North Korea Cabinet of North Korea