Central Statistics Office

The Central Statistics office (CSO), which was set up in 1945, is the central depository for all statistics produced in Mauritius. It is responsible for the collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of official statistics relating to all aspects of the economic and social activities with a few exceptions like fisheries and health statistics which fall under the responsibility of the respective Ministry, and banking and balance of payment statistics for which the Bank of Mauritius is responsible.

The CSO falls under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and has decentralised its activities through the creation of Statistical Units in many government ministries. These units are staffed by officers on the establishment of the CSO but directly servicing their respective ministries in all statistical matters.

The CSO may, under certain conditions, make an agreement with any Ministry or Government Department, local authority or statutory body to collect data jointly.

The Central Statistics Office disseminates its data through the following publications:

- Digest of Statistics: These are mostly annual publications meant to bring together in a single volume all data pertaining to a given subject matter.

- Economic and Social Indicators: These indicators, which are mostly quarterly publications, are designed to rapidly disseminate the main statistical data pending the publication of the detailed digest or reports.

- Adhoc reports: Adhoc reports follow mainly the completion or part completion of censuses and surveys, or availability of other sources of data.

- Mauritius in Figures: This is an annual publication which presents the main statistics in a pocket size format.

These publications are distributed free of charge to Ministries and government departments. For the public, they are on sale at the office. Mauritius in figures is distributed free.

Most of these publications are available on the website of the office at the following address: http://statsmauritius.gov.mu

Detailed activities of the CSO are described in the publication “A Guide to the Central Statistics Office” which also appears on its website.

Apart from these publications, the Office attends to several requests for information coming from international organisations, national organisations (both public and private), students and the public in general.