Only a third of users satisfied with existing BBS data: survey

Only a third of the users are satisfied with the existing data produced by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), according to a new survey of the state-run statistical agency.

The User Satisfaction Survey 2022, which was released today, showed about a quarter of users think that not enough details are provided in the case of agriculture, industry, labour, poverty, health, education and environment statistics.

The level of dissatisfaction is the highest when it comes to gender statistics with 50 per cent of respondents saying details are not provided, followed by national accounts statistics that are cited by 45.45 per cent of the users to be inadequate.

As high as 69 per cent of users think that foreign trade-related statistics are outdated. It is 63.64 per cent for industry statistics, 50 per cent for labour statistics, 56.25 per cent for population statistics, 51.85 per cent for health statistics, and 60 per cent for education-related statistics.

Up to 45 per cent of users say the price-related statistics are not useful and 40.48 per cent of users think poverty statistics are not beneficial.

The size of the sample was 609 but the BBS was able to collect data from 580 respondents in the first-ever survey of its kind. 

The survey showed only 0.36 per cent of the users use official statistics every alternate day, 11.25 per cent daily, 11.07 per cent monthly, and 9.49 per cent annually.

According to the survey, 65 per cent of respondents expect more statistical data in the different domains in addition to the available data.