ABOUT US HOMEPAGE

The National Statistics Directorate (Direcção Nacional de Estatística – DNE) is the state department under the General-Directorate of Analysis and Research of the Ministry of Finance responsible for the co-ordination of the National Statistical System and for the collection, production, analysis and dissemination of official statistics on the demographic, social, environmental and economic domains.

The full responsibilities of DNE are set as follows:

• Coordinating the official statistics system of the country, so as to ensure its coherence and rationality;
• Compiling, analyzing, systematizing, producing and publishing statistical data on the population, companies and other entities, in order to produce and publish information on the economical, social and demographical situation of Timor-Leste;
• Ensuring the coordination of the National Statistics System (NSS), approving concepts, definitions, nomenclatures, indicators and other statistics coordination instruments, according with the international standards;
• Compiling and socializing National Accounts and further information on the different aspects of economy;
• Developing, updating and administering statistical information and records according with the international best practices;
• Safeguarding the compatibility of computer and technology systems with internationally accepted and practiced standards;

The following main principles shall base the statistical activity of DNE:

• Relevance: All statistical activities of DNE shall aim at meeting data needs and expectation of users.
• Integrity: The selection, compilation, presentation and dissemination shall be done in transparent manner and according to professional and ethical standards to reflect the public interest and allow for assessment of the performance of the Government.
• Confidentiality: The compact with respondents to provide accurate information on condition that such information shall be treated with strict confidentiality. Data are released in such a way that does not permit the identification of the respondents concerned.
• Access for all: official statistics are a public good, for the benefit of all citizens of Timor-Leste.

The statistical information produced by DNE is obtained from: 

• Census: each household or economic operator is required to answer a statistical questionnaire. That is the case of the Population and Housing Census.
• Sample surveys: only a sample of households or economic operators, representative of the country, is requested to answer a statistical questionnaire. That is the case of the Demographic and Health Survey, the Employment Survey, etc.
• Administrative records: administrative data hold by the ministries originally collected for purposes other than statistics.

As of August 2009 DNE has 18 permanent and 48 temporary staff. The Director of National Statistical Directory (NSD) is Mr. Elias dos Santos Ferreira.

Statistical Work Plan 2010 - 2019 Timor-Leste

Statistics Law (decree-Law No. 17/2003 of 01 October 2003)

Organizational Structure of DNE

The first years of the DNE:
The current National Statistics Office in East Timor came into being on 30 June 2000 under the First UN Transitional Administration for East Timor (UNTAET). Funding was provided through UNDP and the main program at the time was a Consumer Price Index project. The office was located in the GPA Building and had a staff of 16 Nationals and Internationals.
In 2001, the Second Transitional Government reduced the staff numbers to 8 and the location was shifted to the Prime Minister’s Office but administration was via the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
On 20 may 2002, Independence Day, the NSO changed to a Directorate within the Ministry of Planning and Finance. The location was moved to a prefabricated Kobe Building next to MOPF. The first Director was Mr Manuel Mendonça and the staff was increased back to 16 plus an international advisor - Mr David Brackfield, funded by the International Monetary Fund.
The office, renamed National Statistics Directorate, shifted to its current location in Caicoli on 5 September 2003. UNFPA funded the refurbishing of the two storey building that was the old Statistics office under the Indonesian administration. Not only did DNE end up with more space but they also had good conference and training facilities plus room for storage of questionnaires in an annex at the back. The refurbished building was opened by the Prime Minister Dr. Mari Alkatiri.