The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO) funded in 1867 is a professionally independent Government office, under the supervision of the Minister of Prime Minister’s Office. It is in the centre of the official statistical service being not only the largest actor and it has the mandate to coordinate statistical activities within the official statistical service. The tasks of HCSO are regulated in the Act No. CLV of 2016 on Statistics.
The statistical act states that the purpose of the national statistical system is to produce objective and reliable statistics that describe the state and changes in society, the economy and the environment. Users’ needs for statistics are fulfilled by the official statistical service. Pursuant to the statistical act, HCSO is responsible for designing the data collection programme of the official statistical service, i.e. the National Statistical Data Collection Programme.
HCSO’s mission is to assist informed decision making, research and dialogue between all actors of society by producing and disseminating trusted, high-quality official statistics and analyses. HCSO’s vision is to gain respect in and outside Hungary for our committed staff being responsive to changing users’ needs, continuously increasing efficiency, improving quality, reducing burden on respondents and spreading statistical literacy. In order to implement our mission and reach our vision, staff of HCSO shares the value of independence and objectivity, user orientation, commitment to quality, respect for our 150-year traditions and flexible adaptation to the challenges of the 21st century.
HCSO has been committed to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN General Assembly tasked the Open Working Group to prepare a proposal on the SDGs. This group was co-chaired by the then Permanent Representative of Hungary to the UN. Moreover, Hungary has been a member of the UN High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (HLG-PCCB) being assigned to provide strategic leadership for the sustainable development goal implementation process as it concerns statistical monitoring and reporting. To underline its engagement Hungary has volunteered to co-chair this group, too.
At national level, the successful implementation of the SDGs requires broad cooperation of civil societies, researchers and the government by building awareness and engaging stakeholders in the new agenda. This work has been led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade with the active involvement of the HCSO. Through organising a series of technical workshops the particular responsibility of HCSO was to map possible data sources and assess regularity and availability of existing data existing.
