The National Statistical Office of Thailand (NSO) ( th, สำนักงานสถิติแห่งชาติ; ) is the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
of
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
's official
statistics surveyor. It is an agency of the
Ministry of Digital Economy and Society
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society ( Abrv: MDES; th, กระทรวงดิจิทัลเพื่อเศรษฐกิจและสังคม, ), formerly known as the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology ...
(MDES). One of its tasks is a nationwide
census
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 ...
conducted every 10 years, the latest in 2010.
Organization
TNSO has two main administrative branches, central and local, and several other administrative units apart from those two branches. The central administration oversees 11 smaller administrative units:
Local administration is composed of 76 Provincial Statistical Offices.
The NSO has two other administrative bodies: an Administrative Development Group (กลุ่มงานพัฒนาระบบบริหาร) and an Internal Audit Group (กลุ่มตรวจสอบภายใน).
History
The predecessor of the National Statistical Office was established on 1 April 1915, by
King Vajiravudh
Vajiravudh ( th, วชิราวุธ, , 1 January 188126 November 1925) was the sixth monarch of Siam under the Chakri dynasty as Rama VI. He ruled from 23 October 1910 until his death in 1925. King Vajiravudh is best known for his effort ...
as the Department of Statistical Forecasting (กรมสถิติพยากรณ์), under the Ministry of Finance. In September 1915, King Vajiravudh expanded the department's responsibilities and renamed it the Department of Commerce and Statistical Forecasting (กรมพาณิชย์และสถิติพยากรณ์), still as part of the Ministry of Finance. The first ''Statistical Yearbook'' was published for the year 1916. The Ministry of Commerce was established in August 1920, and regulation over commerce was reassigned to it, with the newly renamed Department of Public Statistical Forecasting (กรมสถิติพยากรณ์สาธารณะ) under the new ministry. However, the statistics department was moved back under the Ministry of Finance in July 1921. In May 1933, the Department of Public Statistical Forecasting was once again reorganized under the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, this time as a division (กอง), a lower administrative unit than a department, with its name changed to the Division of Statistical Forecasting Compilation (กองประมวลสถิติพยากรณ์).
In October 1935, the Division of Statistical Forecasting Compilation was moved under the jurisdiction of the Secretariat of the Cabinet, Office of the Prime Minister (กรมเลขาธิการคณะรัฐมนตรี สำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี). The Statistics Prediction Act of B.E. 2479 (1936) (พระราชบัญญัติการสถิติพยากรณ์ พ.ศ. ๒๔๗๙) reorganized the duties and administration of the division. In May 1942, the division was reassigned to Department of Information under the Ministry of Commerce, but was moved back under the Secretariat of the Cabinet again in May 1943. With increases in the need for and use of official statistics, in February 1950 the Division of Statistical Forecasting Compilation was reassigned to the National Economic Council (สภาเศรษฐกิจแห่งชาติ), which at that time had the status of a subministry (ทบวง), not under any ministry, in order to allow for equal access to statistics-gathering services by all offices of the government. In December 1950, the division was expanded and renamed the Central Statistical Office (สำนักงานสถิติกลาง). The Statistics Act of B.E. 2495 (1952) (พระราชบัญญัติสถิติ พ.ศ. ๒๔๙๕) laid out the expanded authority and duties of the Central Statistical Office. These included administration of government statistics gathering, census-taking, as well as study, training, and research in the field of statistics.
In September 1959 the Office of the National Economic Advancement Council (สำนักงานสภาพัฒนาเศรษฐกิจแห่งชาติ) was established under the Office of the Prime Minister, and the Central Statistical Office was moved under its jurisdiction and further expanded. With its new authority, the Central Statistical Office took its first population census in 1960, which was Thailand's sixth population census. On 23 May 1963, the Central Statistical Office was upgraded to the National Statistical Office, now with departmental status (กรม), directly under the Office of the Prime Minister (สำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี). This is considered the date of establishment of the modern NSO. The Statistics Act of B.E. 2508 (1965) (พระราชบัญญัติสถิติ พ.ศ. ๒๕๐๘) again redefined the authority and duties of the NSO.
See also
*
Office of the Prime Minister (Thailand)
The Office of the Prime Minister ( Abrv: OPM; th, สำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี, ) is the central executive agency in the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand. It is classified as a cabinet department and is led by a perman ...
References
{{Authority control
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
Government departments of Thailand
Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (Thailand)