Italy's National Statistical Institute (www.istat.it)

The official statistical information has always represented an instrument of democracy: it offers governments at any territorial level crucial tools for taking consistent decisions and it secures all citizens the opportunity of evaluating the government's work. For these reasons official statistical should be esteemed as an essential public good to rule our country both in the present and in the future. It is therefore important that public statistics' output increases and improves consistently with those changes that affect the social and economical scenery of the country.

This pamphlet explains the way Italy's National Statistical Institute works, how it acts within the international network and which kind of new challenges it aims to deal with. The most significant innovations in collecting, managing and disseminating data are described herein and the various tools of accessing information are explained in detail since this last is a fundamental right for all citizens. We are indeed convinced that the growth of the statistical activity in our country cannot do without both aware citizens and cooperative administrations, bodies, companies, universities and scientific societies.

Organisational structure

The government bodies are the President and the Board which program, direct and evaluate the activities, in particular the technical-scientific ones, of the Institute and of the top management. The General Manager co-ordinates the administrative and organisational aspects of departmental activities.


Departments and offices

The Institute is composed of Departments, which are divided into one or more central Directions. The cabinet office, the international relations office and the communication office collaborate directly with the President and the Board. The office in charge of strategic evaluation and control operates independently and reports directly to the government bodies. In order to achieve its institutional aims Istat also relies on regional offices.


In the centre of a system

Today the Institute represents a part, the most substantial, of the big National Statistical System (Sistan) (www.sistan.it/varie/no_disp.htm) network which has the task of producing and spreading official statistics to the country and to international organizations.

The net

Since 1989, due to the legislative decree n.322, the statistical offices established within ministries, regions and self-governing provinces, chambers of commerce, provinces, municipalities and other authorities of national interest, work together with Istat to provide the most integrated and reliable picture of the country's reality and of its sectorial and territorial articulations.

The ratio

Sistan was born to rationalise the production of information, avoiding duplications and optimising resources meant for official statistics. The Committee responsible for directing and coordinating statistical information, one of the governing bodies of the system, has managerial functions regarding the statistics offices and deliberates the national statistical program, which includes all the public interest surveys entrusted to the system.


Evolution and perspectives

The new institutional layout indicated in the law n.59/97 gives more powers to regions and local authorities. Moreover, even though it openly states that the discipline on the National Statistical System still stands, it could open the way to possible transformations and different equilibria within Sistan.

In any case, it will be necessary to be able to count on a strong and shared methodical and organisational base and on those characteristics which have always distinguished official statistics in Italy and also the National Institute of Statistics: independence from political power and privacy protection regarding information given by citizens, companies and institutions.

More info about the Institute are available on the page http://www.istat.it/English/The-Instit/index.htm