Functions

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Redundancy, omission of statistics and inconsistency between statistics compiled by various agencies may occur under a decentralized system. To preclude these problems of the decentralized statistical system, KOSTAT, as a central statistical agency, plays a leading role in integrating and coordinating the statistical activities of about 303 governmental and 94 non-governmental agencies authorized by the Statistics Act.

To improve the comparability and consistency of statistics, KOSTAT standardizes statistical terms and classifications. These classifications include the Korean Standard Industrial Classification(KSIC), the Korean Standard Classification of Occupations(KSCO), the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases(KCD), the Standard Korean Trade Classification(SKTC), etc.

KOSTAT also plays a role as a major producer of statistics by conducting 40 kinds of censuses and surveys which mainly focus on socio-economic and demographic fields, such as Census on Establishments, and Population Census, etc. In addition, KOSTAT compiles 15 kinds of analytic statistics and 2 kinds of administrative statistics.

One of the major functions performed by KOSTAT is to provide the statistical data for a variety of users such as policy-makers, governmental planners, administrators, researchers at research institutes, universities, political parties, enterprises, individuals, etc. The provision of statistical data is made through various means of publicity such as publications, CDs, on-line database system(KOSIS), Statistical Datawarehouse system, MDSS(Micro Data Service System), tabulation for special requests, etc.

A statistical quality assessment system, which is, now in place in Korea can be summed up as a combination of the statistical inspector system and the quality assessment checklist scheme. Since the revision of the Statistics Act in 2007, the rotational assessment and self-assessment are being carried out every 5 years and every year, respectively.

The Statistical Training Institute (STI) trains annually around 3,600 persons from both governmental and non-governmental agencies. Its training curriculum includes several courses on basic and advanced statistics, sampling technique, computer technology, survey methodology, etc.
The Statistical Research Institute (SRI) has contributed to the advancement of National Statistics through statistical research and development. The SRI conducts research projects required to develop new statistics and statistical techniques to improve the quality of national statistics. It also conducts in-depth analysis of statistical data.

KOSTAT actively participates in international and regional conferences as well as projects on statistics. KOSTAT hosts international conferences on statistics and related fields. In addition, KOSTAT regularly receives statistical obligations and sends its work-results to international organizations and other countries. It also provides statistical data and replies to statistical inquires from international organizations and other countries.