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Only one-third or 35 per cent of service-recipients remain satisfied with the existing data produced by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), according to a latest survey.
According to the survey, some 38.27 per cent of users said the BBS statistics are outdated.
The survey, titled 'The User Satisfaction Survey 2022', conducted by BBS, also reveals that some two-thirds of the users or 65 per cent said they want more statistical data in different domains in addition to the available data.
The statistics were unveiled at a function at BBS headquarters in Dhaka on Wednesday.
State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam spoke at the event as the chief guest with BBS Director General Md Matiar Rahman in the chair.
Dr Shahnaz Arefin, Secretary, Statistics and Informatics Division, was present at the event as the special guest.
Dildar Hossain, project director, NSDS Implementa-tion Support Project, BBS, presented the survey findings.
Speaking at the function, Dr Shamsul Alam said the BBS data are valid, reliable and trustworthy.
Terming the initiative to conduct the survey courageous, the state minister said this survey proves the capacity of BBS.
As 89 per cent of people are currently using the website, the BBS should further develop the website and improve its technical aspect, Alam added.
In an open discussion, as a participant in the survey, Dr Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI), a privately-owned think-tank, said the BBS should try to work independently as such institutions are working in this manner in many countries globally.
He also stressed the need for improving the quality of BBS data and services in the coming days.
The survey covered a total 14 categories of statistics - agriculture, national accounts, price, foreign trade, industry, labour, poverty, population, demographic and vital, health, gender, education, environment, crime/ judicial statistics, and others.
Some 47.53 per cent of users did not receive data exactly what they had requested, according to the survey findings.
The survey also demonstrates that the majority of the respondents use population, demographic and vital statistics (47.45 per cent) for education and research purposes.
It also shows that almost half (46.57 per cent) of users stated that they used official statistics of BBS, not periodically.
About 11.25 per cent service-recipients, the second highest frequency of use, used the official statistics daily, it said.
BBS produces official statistics at regular intervals by collecting survey or census data and administrative data.
In terms of access to official statistics, the survey said nearly 8.11 per cent of users of price statistics faced the highest difficulty in accessing official statistics and statistics products.
Relatively higher proportions of users of price statistics (58.67 per cent), industry statistics (58.62 per cent), labour statistics (56.55 per cent), foreign trade statistics (56.52 per cent), crime/judicial statistics (56.26 per cent) and environment statistics (55.55 per cent) are of the view that these are not presented in a user-friendly manner.
Regarding the website design, it said some 46 per cent respondents think that the update was not good.
The BBS conducted the USS survey for the first time to measure to what extent the users are satisfied with the statistics produced and the service provided.
The survey aims to seek suggestions from the users for improvement of official statistics produced by BBS in the future.
The sample size was 609 from where 580 target people were respondents. The data was collected from March 27, 2022 to April 12, 2022.
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