Background

A website was developed in a collaborative fashion by staff from BPS-Statistics Indonesia, The Australian National University and the Demographic Institute, Faculty of Economics at the University of Indonesia with funding from the Australian Overseas Aid Program (AusAID) as part of the first round of the Public Sector Linkages Program (PSLP) 2005.

Data from this collection is now managed through the Australian Data Archive.

Purpose

The main purpose was to enhance data used in project identification, design and evaluation for projects and programs at the district and provincial level of Indonesian government. To facilitate this a set of training modules was available for training BPS staff and university students in concepts and methods of analysis of district level data.

Objective

The specific objective was to improve analysis of authoritative data provided by Indonesia's decennial Population Censuses and annual SUSENAS (National Social and Economic Surveys) especially in the context of Indonesia's implementation of fundamental decentralization of government functions. Through this project Statistics Indonesia worked to correct and archive existing data sets, train local and central staff in techniques for district level analysis, and undertook high priority research for development planning.

Population data

A population census has been conducted every decade between 1961 and 2000. This is a key source of data for planning purposes and setting the framework for sample surveys conducted over the intercensal period. The 2000 Census was especially important because it was a complete count rather than a sample census, as had been the case from 1961-1990, it gave a picture of the country`s situation at the end of the 1997-1999 economic crisis. For the first time detailed census data could be utilized for very small area analysis - at the district, sub district and even the village levels, over almost the whole nation. Planners also use the annual SUSENAS (National Social and Economic Survey) to monitor demographic, economic and social change, but the sample is sometimes too small to support district level analysis of many important variables. For this reason, in recent years, Statistics Indonesia has been moving to increase the sample size of the SUSENAS, but this has produced many financial and organizational challenges.