Republic of Slovenia – records and statistics as basis for the determination of spheres of regions and for calculation of regional accounts

Issue title: Seminar of the Conference of European Statisticians, Lisbon, 1996

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Banovec, Tomaž

Affiliations: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Vozarski pot 12, 61000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract: Slovenia has a population of about 2 million inhabitants who live on a territory of 20 216 sq. km; the average height of the territory is a little above 520 metres, the average inclination of slopes is over 25% and only some people live and work on heights of above 500 m. In the new Business Register there are about 150 000 economics businesses registered and are thus also of statistical importance. All social and business life is being held in about 490 000 business and residential buildings. Slovenia's register oriented statistics has been set up during the last 20 years. At present the National Statistical Institution (hereinafter: NSI) coordinates and in part also implements two thirds of the 430 current statistical surveys. The NSI also indirectly coordinates the setting up and linking of emerging new administrative registers. Some of them are being managed by the NSI as a para-statistical activity. (Para-statistics is that activity which is imposed to the NSI due to its personnel, technical and other capabilities and is not directly determined by the source statistical legislation.) Bearing in mind the many years of work that were implemented, orientation facilitated that individual objects (a person, an enterprise or similar associations, buildings, etc.) are adequately identified and referenced in their adequate analytical places (geo-code, socio-code, business-code, etc.) and linked in relations (topology, etc.). Observed objects that are linked enable mutual transfers of interesting attributes and their analysis. Above all, data that are otherwise collected in various different administrative data bases receive multi-purpose use. Thus, Slovenia practically implements the Recommendations on setting up the Geographic Information Systems (hereinafter: GIS) for the needs of national statistics (that were accepted at the ECE/CES conference in June 1995 in Geneva. (Major importance is given here to geo-coding of every individual residential building or business building or respectively given house number and also to the universal use of this datum in other records, registers and censuses.)) Unfortunately Slovenia is still facing the task of rebuilding its regions according to the European system. With the declaration of independence and the new constitution Slovenia renounced the 65 old out-dated and large communities. New Europeanized communities were modelled while provinces still have not been determined. The national administrative authority does not unite all functions into one homogeneous unit, but is dispersed in different functional spheres and sites. This is why the Statistical Office is setting up an adequate base that would facilitate a rational and democratic determination of new regions according to the model and standards of the European Union. For such regions certain calculations should be made – with the assistance of data, that are linked and the methods that are harmonized with those of the European Union. This is particularly the case regarding the regional product or the regional account within the system of national accounts.

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-1997-14108

Journal: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 81-88, 1997