DHAKA, Dec 10, 2024 (BSS) – Operations of the Country’s fourth Economic Census began today in a bid to gain a detail perception about the structural changes of the country’s economy that took place with the passage of time.

The census will be conducted nationwide till December 26, utilising a fully digital system. The slogan of the Economic Census 2024 is "Orthonoitik Shumarite Tottho Din, Notun Bangladesh Binirmane Ongsho Nin". 

Marking the launching of the Economic Census operations, a colourful rally was held today on the BBS Bhaban premises in the capital’s Agargaon area. 

Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain formally inaugurated the rally and the operations for enumeration.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Director General (DG) Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, Economic Census Project Director and Additional Secretary SM Shakil Akhter, Economic Census Deputy Project Director Mizanur Rahman, and other officials and employees of the BBS and other agencies took part in the rally.

The main objectives of the Economic Census are to gain insights into structural changes in the economy over time, determining structure of non-farm economic activities, providing institutional data, providing fundamental information about organisations engaged in economic activities categorised by type, estimating the workforce involved in economic activities and understanding their classifications, assessing the facilities available in industries or businesses, categorising industries and businesses based on capital investment and workforce structure and supplying updated data to policymakers, planners, researchers and other stakeholders for industrial development.

This year’s census includes some new features, such as collecting data on foreign nationals working in Bangladesh and gathering information about digital or e-commerce businesses.

All economic units in the country will be covered. Through some 70 questions, the census will address social and environmental aspects, identify challenges, and evaluate ICT integration in production processes. It will also analyse institutions' income, expenditure, and profitability.

For the census, the country has been divided into 13 divisions, which include 130 districts, 520 upazilas, 2,600 zones, 19,000 supervisory areas, and 95,000 enumeration areas.

The budget of the three-year Economic Census project is Taka 579 crore.

As the national statistical agency, the BBS conducts population, agricultural, and economic censuses.

The country's first Economic Census took place in 1986, followed by the second one held in 2001 and in 2003 in phases. The third Economic Census was conducted in 2013.