Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics BBS

History and Founding

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS; Bengali: বাংলাদেশ পরিসংখ্যান ব্যুরো) is Bangladesh's centralized national statistical organization, formally established on 26 August 1974 by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh, through the consolidation of four pre-existing government statistical agencies: the Bureau of Statistics, the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics, the Agriculture Census Commission, and the Population Census Commission. This merger was necessitated by the fragmented and incomplete statistical infrastructure inherited from the pre-independence era. In July 1975, a Statistics Division was created under the Ministry of Planning to oversee BBS. The division was briefly abolished in 2002 before being reinstated in 2012. The Statistics Act of 2013 provides BBS's current legal framework, establishing it as the national statistical office with mandates for accuracy, confidentiality, and timeliness.

Collections and Holdings

BBS produces and maintains a comprehensive archive of official statistics covering all sectors of the Bangladeshi economy and society:

• Population and Housing Census data (decennial; latest completed 2022)
• Household Income and Expenditure Surveys
• Labour Force Surveys
• Agricultural censuses and annual agricultural statistics
• National accounts (GDP) data
• Foreign trade statistics
• Industry and establishment censuses

Regular publications include the monthly Statistical Bulletin of Bangladesh, Statistical Year Book, Statistical Pocket Book, and Agricultural Year Book. BBS also maintains an SDG monitoring data repository tracking Bangladesh's progress on Sustainable Development Goals.

Access and Usage

Statistical publications and datasets are publicly accessible via BBS's website (bbs.gov.bd) and through the associated NSDS portal (nsds.bbs.gov.bd). Reports are available in both print and electronic format. BBS has a decentralized network of offices across Bangladesh with its head office in Dhaka.