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Cambodia
Statistical Publications
The availability of published economic statistics emerged gradually with the intensification of French colonial rule, after Cambodia became a French protectorate in 1863 and subsequently in 1887 part of French Indochina, together with Tonkin, Annam, Cochinchina and Laos.
The accumulation of administrative statistical data followed the gradual expansion and intensification of the administration of the colonial government of Indochina in Cambodia. During 1888-1897 these were included in the annual report on Cambodia (Annuaire du Cambodge), which can be consulted here. Cambodia was gradually included in the system of reporting administrative social and economic statistics in French Indochina. Some of the administrative statistical data including Cambodia were published in articles in the Bulletin Economique de l’Indochine (1898-1944), which can be consulted here.
The administrative statistical data for Cambodia were more systematically published in Annuaire Statistique de l’Indochine for 1913-1948. The accumulation and publication of statistical data for Cambodia beyond administrative data depended on the initiatives for further statistical reporting and analytical activities initiated by the colonial administration in Hanoi.
This continued until the decentralisation of the administration of French Indochina during 1948-1953 until the dismantling of French Indochina in 1954. Since 1948, Cambodia has had its own statistical agency. In 1948 this was known as the Department of Statistics (Direction de la Statistique), during 1953-1963 as the Department of Statistics and Economic Study (Direction de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques) and during 1963-1975 as the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Research (NIS, Institut Natonal de la Statistiques et des Recherches Economiques) as part of the Ministry of Planning.
During these years, the agency saw a gradual professionalisation. In 1953 it started the publication of the Statistical Yearbook of Cambodia 1049-50-51 (Annuaire statistique du Cambodge 1949-50-51) followed by other issues with retrospective data reaching back to the 1920, based on data previously published in Annuaire Statistique de l’Indochine. In addition, Cambodia’s central bank, established in 1954 as the National Bank of Cambodia, published its bulletin with monetary and financial statistics.
Following a 1970 military coup, the statistical system deteriorated and regular publication of statistical data ceased. Cambodia’s statistical system and its national bank were subsequently dismantled during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime.
In 1979 the statistical agency was re-established. Initially as part of the Ministry of Finance and since 1981 as the Department of Statistics in the Ministry of Planning. It gradually resumed the accumulation of administrative statistical data, which during the 1980s served the purpose of supporting the planning of economic recovery and growth. With international support from agencies such as the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, the Department of Statistics increased its activities. It took responsibility for population censuses and household surveys, altogether leading to a gradually richer statistical understanding of Cambodia’s society and economy.
The resumption of regular publications of statistical data had to wait until after 1994 when the department became the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) in the Ministry of Planning. NIS resumed publication of a statistical yearbook in 2003, but its publication has been irregular. NIS updates Cambodia’s statistical data its website.
Other statistical data were published by Cambodia’s central bank, which was re-established in 1979 as the National Bank of Cambodia.
Last update on Sunday 19 April 2026 (02:24) by Pierre van der Eng