Conduct of Census of Population 2020
The beginning of 2020 saw the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the Singapore economy and everyday lives of people. The Census of Population 2020 was conducted amidst the COVID-19 pandemic which posed unprecedented challenges and presented valuable lessons for the planning and implementation of future surveys.
Improvements in Openness & Coverage of Data on SingStat Website
The SingStat Website topped the global Open Data Inventory (ODIN) ranking of National Statistical Offices’ websites on data accessibility (openness) and availability (coverage) for 4 consecutive rankings in 2018/19, 2020/21, 2022/23 and 2024/25.
DOS made improvements to better communicate statistics to users via more visualisations such as animated infographics, interactive dashboards, and videographics. These visualisations are pitched at varying levels of statistical knowledge to cater to diverse user groups. Multi-dimensional data cubes are also made available for users to undertake deeper analyses.
Key Statistical Developments in the 2020s
| Year |
Activity |
| 2020 |
- Singapore's sixth Census of Population after Independence and the fifteenth in the series of census taking, was conducted amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The Visualising Data webpage was published on SingStat Website for convenient access to varied visualisations to better communicate statistical data and concepts; and the Multi-Dimensional Data Cubes webpage was published to facilitate in-depth analyses using datacubes and their corresponding interactive dashboards.
- The eBook of Statistics, an interactive digital publication, replaced the Yearbook of Statistics. The Singapore in Figures publication was also transformed into a series of dashboards with interactive features to facilitate data exploration.
- The Singapore Standard Occupational Classification (SSOC) Search was launched to provide quick look-up of SSOC codes and occupations found in the SSOC.
|
| 2021 |
- The SingStat Website retained top spot in the global Open Data Inventory (ODIN) 2020/21 ranking. ODIN 2020/21 ranked the National Statistics Offices’ websites of 187 countries on Openness (i.e., accessibility) and Coverage (i.e., availability) of their data.
- DOS celebrated the Centennial Anniversary.
- The tagline ‘Empowering You with Trusted Data’ was incorporated in the corporate logo to underscore our Department’s established standing as a provider of trusted data and data services for data-driven decision making.
- The Data for Businesses webpage containing business tools was launched to empower businesses to make data-driven decisions with insights on their customers, industry, and business performance.
- More detailed Consumer Price Index (CPI) data by household income group, and retiree households and households with young children were made available to provide greater insights into the impact of price changes and main contributions to changes in CPI by different household income group.
- More disaggregated Gross Domestic Product data were made available for the Services Producing Industries.
- Quarterly data on Personal Disposable Income and Personal Saving were made available to facilitate more timely and in-depth economic analyses on the consumption pattern and saving behaviour of the personal sector.
|
| 2022 |
- The SingStat Table Builder was enhanced with new features such as a personalised page to save frequently accessed tables and notifications on data updates. Other improvements included better data search with auto-suggestions, API access for all tables to facilitate data retrieval, and mobile responsiveness.
- The SingStat Table Builder received the OpenGov Asia’s 2022 Recognition of Excellence award for its innovative use of technology in delivering citizen-centric services and improving user experience.
|
| 2023 |
- The SingStat Website retained the top spot in the global Open Data Inventory (ODIN) 2022/23 ranking. ODIN 2022/23 ranked the National Statistics Offices’ websites of 195 countries on accessibility and availability of their data.
- The SingStat Mobile App was enhanced for better user experience with new features such as tailored data recommendations, quick preview of important indicators and seamless access with device-synchronisation.
- Twelfth Household Expenditure Survey was conducted, which utilised Optical Character Recognition in the digitisation of hardcopy survey returns and leveraged the use of Machine Learning for automated expenditure coding.
|
| 2024 |
- The SingStat Mobile App received the OpenGov Asia’s 2024 Recognition of Excellence award for its innovative use of technology to deliver citizen-centric services and improving data accessibility.
- DOS has won the Best Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Award at the Digital Services Awards 2024 organised by GovTech and supported by the Smart Nation Group.
|
| 2025 |
- The SingStat Website retained the top spot in the global Open Data Inventory (ODIN) 2024/25 ranking. ODIN 2024/25 ranked the National Statistics Offices’ websites of 197 countries on accessibility and availability of their data.
- The Statistics ANd Data Retrieval A.I. assistant (SANDRA) – Phase 1 was launched, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that uses natural language and Large Language Models to assist users on data enquiries using data in SingStat Table Builder.
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