Who we are
The National Institute of Statistics is a public research organisation. It has been operating in Italy since 1926 and is the main producer of official statistics supporting citizens and policy-makers.
The Institute’s organization was redesigned by Presidential Decree no. 166 dated 7 September 2010. The governing bodies are the President – appointed by Presidential decree and the Institute’s legal representative – and the Council, which is responsible for steering, planning and control activities.
Comstat is responsible for directing Istat’s activities regarding Sistan (the National Statistics System) statistics offices, while the Board of Auditors certifies that the accounts are kept correctly. The Institute is responsible for steering, coordinating, promoting and providing technical assistance for the statistics activities of the bodies and offices that are part of the Sistan.
Istat is part of the European Statistics System and collaborates with the other members of the international statistics system.
Mission and activities
The mission of the National Institute of Statistics is to serve the community by producing and communicating high quality statistical information, analyses and forecasts in the areas of economics, society and the environment.
Of the 864 projects planned as part of the 2016 National Statistics Program, 333 were managed directly by Istat, including: 138 statistical surveys; 39 administrative statistics; 104 derived statistics analyses; 39 project planning studies and 13 statistics information systems. The Institute was responsible for running 89.8% of projects.
The data produced are published on istat.it website, which also provides press releases and databases. The main access to the data is provided by I.Stat, the Institute’s datawarehouse, which stores the information divided by themes, presented in multidimensional tables and accompanied by metadata. Access to the data warehouse is unlimited and free of charge.
Istat offers the contents in open format, so that the graphics, data, information and widgets can be used and incorporated by users on other sites. This means that Istat data and analyses can be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted and adapted, even for commercial purposes, with the sole condition of quoting the source (creative commons licence). The opening of Istat channels on the most popular social networks (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and SlideShare) also guarantees the rapid and viral spread of Istat contents on the web.
Our offices
Our headquarters are based in Rome, but Istat is present throughout Italy with a network of local offices in regional capitals and in the autonomous provinces, working closely with local authorities. Our headquarters include a Press Office which exclusively manages and coordinates relations with national and international information media.
Budget and staff
Estimated budget for the financial year 2022
For the year 2022, the forecast of production income is EUR 231,429,131. Specifically, income for institutional activities amounts to 211,464,191 euro and is represented 97.4% by the state allocation (206,009,578 euro). Of this, 21,009,578 euros are allocated to the conduct of permanent censuses. The remaining 2.6% (5,454,612 euro) represents income from operating subsidies.
Planned production costs amount to €252,966,705.
The Institute’s investments amount to €25,937,784, of which €23,995,436 (92.5%) is for intangible assets and €1,942,348 (7.5%) for tangible assets
Staff as of 31 December 2021
As at 31 December 2021, 1,920 people were employed at Istat, 89 fewer than at the end of 2020. All employees are on permanent contracts and there are 5 external management positions and 2 seconded from other public administrations. Out of 10 employees, six are women and four are men.
The employees of Istat work according to different levels and professional profiles, as per the national contract for research institutions. Adding together the employees at the highest levels – researchers and technologists, from the first to the third level, and administrative managers of the first and second brackets – we reach 44% of the staff, while the remaining five levels – from the fourth to the eighth, which include officials, collaborators and administrative operators, collaborators and technical operators of the research bodies – account for 56%.