Official statisticsRegiostat

The purpose of the organisation REGIOSTAT is to encourage cooperation, planning and coordination of statistics between the Confederation, the cantons and the communes. It should enable consultations to be made and ensure good coordination between the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), the cantonal statistical offices and the towns' statistical services concerning projects and activities that are of interest to both the Confederation and the regions.

REGIOSTAT brings together representatives of the FSO and of statistical offices in the regions (cantons and municipalities, as well as statistical units of the cantons which do not have a statistical office). The Director General of the FSO chairs REGIOSTAT which meets at least once a year at its annual general meeting. Around forty Members belong to this body.

In order to work more efficiently, to deal with current business and to prepare the annual general meeting, REGIOSTAT has a Committee which usually meets three times a year. The Director of the FSO chairs the Committee meetings. The Committee includes 8 regional representatives from all of the Swiss regions as well as representatives of the FSO.

REGIOSTAT Tasks:

• Participate in the preparation of the multiannual statistical programme of federal statistics at the stage of preliminary consultations before its assessment by the Federal Statistics Committee
• cooperate and participate in the standardisation and regionalisation of federal statistical results, develop bases upon which federal statistical surveys can be extended for regional purposes (additional surveys or widening of samples)
• distribute tasks and costs when cantons’or cities’ contributions are necessary to carry out federal statistics projects
• discuss in detail organisational and functional aspects of official statistics
• adopt recommendations and guidelines which apply to the whole of official statistics
• create internal working groups on particular statistical topics (specific mandates and limited in time)
• participate in the creation and assessment of the statistical education and training programme offered by the FSO.

Essentially, REGIOSTAT's purpose is to encourage cooperation among all the bodies involved in statistics at the level of the Confederation, the cantons and the municipaities. It encourages coordination between the federal statistics system and regional systems by promoting cooperation for statistical activities that concern both the Confederation and the cantons.