National Statistical Office of Thailand

The National Statistical Office of Thailand (Thai สำนักงานสถิติแห่งชาติ) is the government of Thailand's official statistics surveyor. One of the activities is a nation-wide census every 10 years, the last being in 2000.

Administration
The National Statistical Office has two main branches of administration, and several other administrative units apart from those two branches. The main binary division is between Central Administration and Local Administration.

Central Administration
The Central Administration oversees seven smaller administrative units:
 * 1) Office of the Secretary (สำนำงานเลขานุการกรม)
 * 2) Information and Communication Technology Center (ศูนย์เทคโนโลยีสารสนเทศและการสื่อสาร)
 * 3) Economic and Social Statistics Bureau (สำนักสถิติเศรษฐกิจและสังคม)
 * 4) Policy and Statistical Techniques Bureau (สำนักนโยบายและวิชาการสถิติ)
 * 5) Statistical Forecasting Bureau (สำนักสถิติพยากรณ์)
 * 6) Field Administration Division (กองบริหารจัดเก็บข้อมูลสถิติ)
 * 7) Public Opinion Division (กองสถิติประชามติ)

Local Administration
The Local Administration is made up of 75 Provinicial Statistical Offices.

Other Administrative Bodies
The National Statistical Office also has three other administrative bodies:
 * 1) National Statistical Committee (คณะกรรมการสถิติแห่งชาติ)
 * 2) Administrative Development Group (กลุ่มงานพัฒนาระบบบริหาร)
 * 3) Internal Audit Group (กลุ่มตรวจสอบภายใน)

History
The predecessor of the National Statistical Office was established on April 1, 1915, by King Vajiravudh as the Department of Statistical Forecasting (กรมสถิติพยากรณ์), under the Ministry of Finance.

In September 1915, King Vajiravudh expanded the department's responsibilities and renamed it the Department of Commerce and Statistical Forecasting (กรมพาณิชย์และสถิติพยากรณ์), still as part of the Ministry of Finance. The first Statistical Yearbook was published for the year 1916.

The Ministry of Commerce was established in August 1920, and regulation over commerce was reassigned to it, with the newly renamed Department of Public Statistical Forecasting (กรมสถิติพยากรณ์และสาธารณะ) under the new ministry. However, the statistics department was moved back under the Ministry of Finance in July 1921.

In May 1933, the Department of Public Statistical Forecasting was once again reorganized under the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, this time as a division (กอง), a lower administrative unit than a department, with its named changed to the Division of Statistical Forecasting Compilation (กองประมวลสถิติพยากรณ์).

In October 1935, the Division of Statistical Forecasting Compilation was moved under the jurisdiction of the Secretariat of the Cabinet, Office of the Prime Ministry (กรมเลขาธิการคณะรัฐมนตรี สำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี).

The Statistics Prediction Act of B.E. 2479 (1936) (พระราชบัญญัติการสถิติพยากรณ์ พ.ศ. ๒๔๗๙) reorganized the duties and administration of the Division.

In May 1942, the Division was reassigned to Department of Information under the Ministry of Commerce, but was moved back under the Secretariat of the Cabinet again in May 1943.

With increases in the need for and use of official statistics, in February 1950 the Division of Statistical Forecasting Compilation was reassigned to the National Economic Council (สภาเศรษฐกิจแห่งชาติ), which at that time had the status of subministry (ทบวง), not under any ministry, in order to allow for equal access to statistics-gathering services by all offices of the government. In December 1950, the Division was expanded and renamed the Central Statistical Office (สำนักงานสถิติกลาง).

The Statistics Act of B.E. 2495 (1952) (พระราชบัญญัติสถิติ พ.ศ. ๒๔๙๕) laid out the expanded authority and duties of the Central Statistical Office. These included administration of government statistics gathering, census-taking, as well as study, training, and research in the field of statistics.

In September 1959 the Office of the National Economic Advancement Council (สำนักงานสภาพัฒนาเศรษฐกิจแห่งชาต) was established under the Office of the Prime Minister, and the Central Statistical Office was moved under its jurisdiction and further expanded. With its new authority, the Central Statistical Office took its first population census in 1960, which was Thailand's sixth population census.

On May 23, 1963, the Central Statistical Office was upgraded to the National Statistical Office, now with the equivalent status of a department (กรม), directly under the Office of the Prime Minister (สำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี). This is considered the date of establishment of the modern NSO.

The Statistics Act of B.E. 2508 (1965) (พระราชบัญญัติสถิติ พ.ศ. ๒๕๐๘) again redefined the authority and duties of the NSO.