National Statistical System in Iran: Challenges, Plans and Obstacles

Iran is implementing its Fourth Five-year Economic, Social and Cultural Development Plan. Therefore, the National Statistical System (NSS) has to fulfill emerging statistical demands required by the plan. This issue has led the NSS to face some challenges. Due to this fact, currently some measures have been adopted to improve the current status and a plan is being conducted to meet the new statistical needs. This paper review the history of establishment of the NSS in Iran and the challenges facing the current NSS. The four steps, shaping the process of revising the current NSS for achieving a dynamic and optimal system, will be next discussed. In this connection, nine working groups were initiated in the Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI) to review the current NSS and to develop the required plan. Finally, the probable obstacles in the way of implementing the Development Plan of the NSS in Iran are discussed.