The field execution and delivery of the first results of the 2024 Population and Housing Census were some of the milestones that the director of the National Statistics Institute (INE), Ricardo Vicuña, noted this morning in his presentation of the Public Report of the institution.

The director reviewed INE’s achievements in 2024 and the first months of 2025, and he discussed the challenges to be faced in the second half of this year. He recalled the work undertaken for the 2024 Census, which required approximately 32,000 people located throughout the country. Work on the Census has continued in recent months with the delivery of results on the enumerated population and housing units, the international immigrant population, internal migration, fertility, materials used in housing construction, access to basic services, and self-identification with native peoples, among other topics.

Strengthening of statistical production

In his presentation, the director described the advances and improvements in a wide range of indicators and surveys that INE regularly carries out, and he noted the preparation for specialized surveys. All of these projects aim to strengthen INE’s statistical production.

The director mentioned that more than 25% of the prices used to calculate the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in 2024 were collected by using scanner data, a technique in which companies directly provide their administrative records.

The director also noted the addition to the National Employment Survey (ENE) of a new dimension on the participation in worker organizations, which will enable INE to measure the Association Rate in the Main Occupation, an indicator aligned with international standards.

Among INE’s achievements, he underscored the delivery of results of the Second National Time Use Survey at the beginning of this year as well as the greater frequency and timeliness in the dissemination of vital statistics, which are now published in monthly bulletins.

The preparation of surveys and delivery of results

Among the work done in 2024 and challenges for 2025, the director of INE mentioned the preparation of a new version of the Household Budget Survey, which is to be conducted in 2026; the preparation and current form for the Survey of Micro-enterprise; the National Urban Survey on Public Safety, whose results for the 2024 version were recently published; and the new Survey on Sexual and Gender Diversity, soon to be conducted nationwide.

Likewise, the director noted that the Cultural Offering Pilot Survey will be conducted in the second half of 2025 to update the measurement of this sector, and he added that the National Survey of Innovation in Companies and the Survey on Expenditure and Personnel in Innovation and Development are currently underway.

Furthermore, the results of the Labour Survey will be published at the beginning of this year, as will the results of the National Survey on Cultural Participation and Reading Behavior.

Strategic projects move forward

During the presentation, the director discussed the progress of two strategic projects related to the use of administrative records for statistical production, which INE has been developing for some years: the Statistical Register of Persons, the Statistical Register of Economic Units, and the Data Lake project, which is a technological platform for storing and processing structured and unstructured information sources in a secure manner.

Challenges

In addition to the new versions of several of its surveys, in the coming months INE will face the challenge of publishing new population projections on the basis of the 2024 Census and changing the base year for the Monthly Tourist Accommodation Survey, the Earnings and Labour Costs Indices, and the Producer Price Index.

Presentation of the Participatory Public Report 2024 – 2025 (in Spanish)