Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (commonly called ISTAT) is the official statistical agency of Italy. It produces and distributes the country's official statistics, providing figures and analyses used by government, researchers, businesses and the public.
Role and responsibilities
ISTAT's core tasks include collecting, processing and publishing data on Italy's population, economy and society. Its work covers demographic statistics, economic accounts, labour market indicators, price indices, social surveys and many other areas. The institute also designs and carries out the national census and a variety of sample surveys to monitor trends over time.
Activities and outputs
- Running population and housing censuses and managing the resulting datasets.
- Compiling national accounts and official measures such as GDP and consumer price indices.
- Conducting regular household and business surveys to measure employment, income, education and health.
- Publishing statistical reports, yearbooks and topical analyses, and maintaining public databases and online tools.
Standards and cooperation
As the national authority for statistics, ISTAT sets methodological standards and coordinates statistical activities across public administrations to ensure consistency and quality. It also collaborates with international organisations and other national statistical offices to harmonise methods and share best practices.
Access to data
Data and publications produced by ISTAT are made available to users through reports and electronic databases. The institute aims to provide transparent documentation of methods and to support research, policy-making and public information with timely and reliable statistics.