STATISTICAL NEWS LETTER · In addition to the national seminar, DCS has organized many other activities including a Seminar for selected GCE (A/L) ... The final report is expected

DEPARTMENT OF CENSUS & STATISTICSDEPARTMENT OF CENSUS & STATISTICSDEPARTMENT OF CENSUS & STATISTICS

Ministry of National Policies and Economic affairsMinistry of National Policies and Economic affairsMinistry of National Policies and Economic affairs

STATISTICAL NEWS LETTERSTATISTICAL NEWS LETTERSTATISTICAL NEWS LETTER

2ND ISSUE , 2015 ISSN 1800—3095

WORLD STATISTICS DAY CELEBRATIONS – 2015

General Assembly called on the member states to observe this day and or-

ganize activities with the aim of raising the level of awareness on the im-

portance of data and indicators in the life of communities. It further invited

the member states to rely on official statistics as a major source in formulat-

ing their policies and driving their investments in social, economic and en-

vironmental fields, and to activate the fundamental principles of official

statistics adopted by the UN General Assembly.

The Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) as the key institution of

the National

Statistical Sys-

tem organized

a number of

activities to

coincide with

the observanc-

es under the

theme “Better

data. Better

life”. The main

event, the Na-

tional Seminar

held on 20th

October 2015 amidst the participation of government, semi government

agencies, NGOs, UN agencies, researchers, civil societies, academics etc.

The Chief Guest of this event was Mr. Niroshan Perera,

Hon. State Minister of National Policies and Economic

Affairs. Many activities were included to create aware-

ness on importance of official statistics and their uses.

Presentation on role of the department, data produced

by the department etc. were made and the department e-

learning system and automated library system were also

promoted.

In addition to the national seminar, DCS has organized

many other activities including a Seminar for selected

GCE (A/L) students, Special assemblies on WSD in all

schools, Seminars at District Secretariats for district level

officials, Awareness Seminar for journalists and a special

event for DCS staff.

District Seminars

District seminars were conducted in each district except Colombo district

on 20th October 2015 to make awareness on official Statistics among gov-

ernment officials in the district administration system, students and teach-

ers from selected schools in the respective district.

The United Nations General Assembly, in

its 69th regular session held in New York City

in June 2015, adopted a resolution designating

20th October 2015 as World Statistics Day

(WSD), under the general theme “Better data.

Better lives”. In addition, the General Assem-

bly invited all member states to celebrate

World Statistics Day on 20th October every

five years. The adoption of this resolution

comes as recognition of the international com-

munity of the importance of statistical data in

formulating sustainable development strate-

gies, and monitoring progress made by coun-

tries towards achieving national and interna-

tional development goals; particularly that

related to Post-2015 sustainable development

agenda, namely, taking decisions and interven-

tions in relevant national development pro-

jects in a timely manner.

In its aforementioned resolution, the UN

Cont.

PAGE 2 2ND ISSUE , 2015

“Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before”

The Department of Census

and Statistics introduced a new price

index called, Producer’s Price Index

(PPI) since the second quarter of

2015. The Producer’s Price Index

(PPI) measures the average change

over the time in the prices received

by domestic producers of goods and

services.

The more historic Consumer

Price Index addresses the price

changes from the point of view of the

consumers. The starting point of this

production and supply chain is the

production floor. Thus, the price

changes from the point of view of

producer are being considered

through PPI. The introduction of the

PPI in Sri Lanka provides a more

complete picture of price move-

ments and trends for making in-

formed decisions.

Further, this is an important

macroeconomic indicator. It serves

as an indicator of short term infla-

tionary trends and as a deflator of

economic series. It is also used in

productivity analysis, contract escala-

tion, business analysis and current

cost accounting etc.

The PPI covers the agricul-

ture, manufacturing and utility sec-

tors of the country. The prices of

agricultural products are collected

monthly by divisional secretariat lev-

el and the prices of manufacturing

goods are collected from the estab-

lishments with persons engaged size

of 25 and more from three provinces

namely, Western, Central and

Southern. Utility sector prices are

collected from the National Water

Supply and Drainage Board and Cey-

lon Electricity Board. The PPI has

been calculated from January, 2014

to September, 2015. The base year is

the fourth quarter of 2013.The

monthly Producer’s Price Index pub-

lishes five weeks after each quarter.

Movements of Monthly Producer’s Price Index, Jan. 2014 – Sep. 2015

(Base: 2013 Q4 = 100)

PRODUCER’S PRICE INDEX (PPI)

WORLD STATISTICS DAY CELEBRATIONS – 2015

Statistical Awareness Seminar for

students

Statistical awareness seminar for

G.C.E. (A/L) students from selected

schools was held with the participation

of about 100 students.

Seminar for journalists

A seminar for journalists was conduct-

ed with the participation of nearly 100

journalists. This seminar mainly fo-

cused on the enhancement of statistical

literacy among journalists. For this

purpose, several presentations related

to official statistics produced by the

DCS were made and special attention

was paid to enhance the knowledge of

journalists on proper interpretation of

statistical indicators.

School Awareness Campaign

An awareness campaign was held at all

the schools in the country to make

aware students and teachers on official

statistics and their uses. A poster and a

message on WSD were distributed

among all the schools, and arrange-

ments were made to display the poster

in the notice board and organized a

special assembly on 20th October

morning and read the WSD message

by the Principal. One of objectives of

this message was to convey a message

to the society on the importance of

providing accurate and reliable data to

the department.

Observance of WSD by DCS Staff

A special program was conducted tar-

geting the DCS staff who are responsi-

ble for the collection and analysis of

official statistics. Special lecture by a

renowned academic was organized to

highlight the importance of official

statistics and its uses for policy formu-

lation. Several recreational items to

showcase artistic talents of DCS staff

were also presented at the event.

PAGE 3 STATISTICAL NEWSLETTER

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things”

SRI LANKA DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY - 2016

Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in Sri Lanka are normally conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics once in every five years as per the re-quest made by the Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka. The objective of the Sri Lanka Demographic and Health Survey (SLDHS) is to provide data needed to monitor and evaluate the impact of pop-ulation, health and nutrition programs implemented by different government agencies. This will also cater to the needs of compilation of a number of Millennium Development Indicators. Since 1987, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) has been collecting data on fertility and determinants of fertility, family planning, fertility pref-erences, infant and child mortality, re-productive health, nutrition, anthropo-metric measurements and HIV/AIDS – related knowledge and attitudes. Tech-nical advices were obtained from the Macro International Agency for the 2006/7 DHS survey. The next DHS survey is planning to conduct in year 2016. This is the 5th survey of DHS se-ries in Sri Lanka. All the DHS surveys were funded by the World Bank.

Methodology

This survey covers the all districts in the country and the sample was spread geo-graphically in proportion to the popula-tion. The SLDHS used a stratified two-stage cluster sample design. The first stage involved selecting of 2500 enu-meration areas (clusters) randomly from the list of enumeration areas (EAs). An enumeration area (EA) is a subdivision

of a Grama Niladhari area, which con-sists of about 100 housing units in urban areas and about 80 units in rural or es-tate areas. Estimates are provided by National Level, Sector Level and Dis-trict Level. Second stage of selection involved the systematic sampling of 10 households listed in each enumeration area. All ever married women aged 15-49 years and their children below 5 years of age at the time of the survey were eligible to be interviewed. Survey questionnaire for this survey is designed with the cooperation of the Ministry of Health.

Fieldwork

Specially trained 30 field survey teams will be deployed for data collection of the next DHS survey. Each team com-prised of one female supervisor, four/five female interviewers, one field edi-tor, measurer (height and weight and GPS measurements) and field assistant. Team composition was depending on main speaking languages in the country namely Sinhala and Tamil. Teams had to reside in the districts temporarily during the survey period. Response rate of this survey needs to keep at over 98 percent since sample size needs to represent the whole country. Senior level technical staff of DCS is appointed to supervise teams methodically. Haemoglobin test-ing was carried out as part of the DHS survey first time in Sri Lanka in 2006/7 DHS survey and plan to continue for the next DHS survey too. In addition, an-other DCS staff attached to the head office were involved in other adminis-

trative and technical related activities to the survey.

It has been planned to use tablet com-puters for data collection first time in Sri Lanka for 2016 DHS survey and collect data from the field within 4-5 months period. It has been planned to use CAPI (Computer Assisted Personnel Inter-view) technique for field data collection first time in Sri Lanka in 2016. It is also planning to obtain technical assistance from ICF International which is the Global Technical Assistance Agency for DHS surveys. This new technology will be reduce data entry time substantially.

Data Processing and data dissemi-nation

Previous surveys were conducted using paper based questionnaires and data en-try was done centrally. Data processing was done using CSPro computer pack-age. Staff of the ICT division and subject matter staff worked together with Mac-ro International consultants to obtain the required tabulations.

Since data collection will be done using tablet computers for 2016 survey, data processing stage could be done immedi-ately after the data collection as there is no separate manual data entry stage. Therefore selected final tables could be produced within two months after data collection. The final report is expected to be published within six months after completion of data collection stage. It is expected to conduct a seminar on major findings before printing the final report.

An update of Sri Lanka’s poverty map based on the newly available 2012 CPH (Census of Population and Housing) and 2012/13 HIES (Household Income and Expenditure Survey) was published by DCS in September, 2014. This poverty map exercise is particularly timely because the new map provides valuable information on poverty in Northern and Eastern prov-inces, which were not covered in the previous map due to the lack of household survey and census data from these areas.

The estimated poverty rate at the DS division level ranges from 0.6 percent in Dehiwala (Colombo district) to 45.1 percent in Manmunai-west (Batticaloa district). Most of the DS divisions with the lowest estimated poverty rates, as expected, are reported from Colombo, the district with the lowest poverty rate.

For more information the detailed publication is having the following link.

http://www.statistics.gov.lk/poverty/SpatialDistributionOfPoverty2012_13.pdf

MEASURING AND MONITORING POVERTY IN SRI LANKA

SEVENTH MEETING OF HEADS OF SAARC STATISTICAL

ORGANIZATIONS - 23-24 JULY 2015

WE’RE NOW OPERATING

FROM

Department of Census and Statistics

No.306/71

Polduwa Road,

Battaramulla

Tel : +94 11 2147000, +94 11 2147050

E-mail : [email protected]

Publisher : Publications Division

Department of Census and Statistics

No.306/71

Polduwa Road,

Battaramulla

Phone : (++94) 0112 147488

Fax : (++94) 0112 877970

E-mail: [email protected]

WE’RE ON THE WEB

www.statistics.gov.lk

The maiden conference of heads of the National Statistical Organizations (SAARCSTAT) of the countries of South Asia region was held in Calcutta, India in 2005 with the view of enhancing regional cooperation on Statistical affairs and has met six times to discuss regional matters of importance in the field of official statistics.

Meeting Venue and dates

First Kolkata, India. 26th -27th May 2005

Second Dhaka, Bangladesh. 17th April 2008

Third Paro, Bhutan. 18th -19th November 2010

Fourth Islamabad, Pakistan. 24th -25th October 2011

Fifth Maldives. 4th - 5th November 2012

Sixth Kathmandu, Nepal. 12th -13th June 2014.

Venues of previous SAARCSTAT meetings At the sixth meeting held in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2014, Sri Lanka was unanimously chosen to host the conference for 2015. According-ly, On behalf of the of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) with the coordination of Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized the Seventh Meeting of Heads of SAARC Statistical Organisations (SAARCSTAT) which was held in Colombo on 23rd and 24th July 2015. The theme of the seventh meet-ing was ‘Education Statistics’ which focused on existing disparities among children in the SAARC region.

Delegates from SAARC countries; India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ne-pal, Bhutan, Maldives and host country Sri Lanka and representatives

from SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu, Nepal attended this meeting. Representatives from the SAARC Division of the Min-istry of Foreign Affairs and key local and foreign data users and representatives from several government institutions also attended the inauguration.

Dr. A.J. Satharasinghe, Director-General, Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka delivered the welcome address at the inaugural session of the meeting. Key-note Address of the inaugural session was delivered by Prof. Kithsiri Liyanage, the then Secretary to the Ministry of Policy Planning, Economic Affairs, Child, Youth and Cultural Affairs. He, in his address stressed the important role played by sta-tistics in devising national plans for all sec-tors of the economies in all Member States including alleviation of poverty.

Ms. L. Savithri, Director, Economic, Trade and Finance Division, SAARC Secretariat addressing the gathering urged all Member States to ensure effective and timely implementation of the decisions of SAARCSTAT and also thanked the Government of Sri Lanka for hosting the Meet-ing and for making excellent arrangements for the same and for providing generous hospitality to all delegations.

Dr. A.J. Satharasinghe, Director General, Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka and the Leader of the delegation of Sri Lanka was elected as the Chairperson of the Meeting by acclamation.