From the time we are born we are a statistic, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) said on Tuesday for World Statistics Day which is marked October 20, adding that this year it would conduct 276 statistical projects and that so far this year its web site has been visited more than half a million times.

From the day we are born we are a part of statistics, our birth, going to kindergarten, enrolling in school, graduating and so on. Each individual is part of a broader system, a community or a nation. Data about us creates a bigger picture, adds context to a certain story and remains recorded as a testimony of the times. Croatia has collected statistical data for 145 years now which bears witness to economic and demographic trends, DZS said in a press release.

It recalled that statistical data about populations, economic, social, cultural indicators are collected throughout the world and are mutually exchanged and compared.

DZS will conduct 276 projects and surveys this year

DZS recalled that in the 145 years of official statistics being collected in Croatia, various data has been processed and made public.

The earliest data is kept in DZS’s library, which is one of the oldest specialised libraries in Croatia and is the home of about 30,000 books and publications, the oldest of which date back to the 19th century, and the oldest population census, from 1857, dates back to that period, the press release said.

DZS also publishes most of its data on its web site and in the first nine months of this year it has registered 539,789 visits.

This year DZS will conduct as many as 276 statistical surveys and projects.

2021 population census will allow self-completion

DZS said that the most popular survey that is conducted every ten years is certainly the population census and the next one, in 2021, will for the first time allow residents to complete the census on their own.

DZS recalled another census that was completed a few days ago – the Agriculture 2020 Census – when more than 174,000 family farms were registered.

DZS has also been active on social media since 2015 and publishes interesting information, graphs and video material almost on a daily basis.

It has more than 14,000 followers on Facebook, almost 2,000 on Instagram and about 5,700 followers on Twitter and releases information both in Croatian and English.

DZS also shares its data with the EU’s statistical office Eurostat and that of the United Nations.