Directora: Lic. Ana María Edwin

Director técnico: Lic. Norberto Itzcovich

The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) is the technical government agency responsible for the coordination and supervision of all public statistical activities taking place in the Argentine territory. Its creation and operations are governed by the provisions of National Law No. 17622, passed in 1968, and the Executive Orders No. 3110/70 and No. 1831/93.

The Law No. 17 622 confers on the INDEC the direct responsibility for the methodological design, the organization and supervision of all Federal survey and census operations, as well as the elaboration and compilation of basic social and economic indicators and the production of other basic statistical information. The INDEC is also responsible for the coordination of the National Statistical System (SEN, Sistema Estadístico Nacional), under the principle of procedural, methodological and standards' centralization coupled with operative decentralization. This means that the INDEC is ultimately responsible for the production of public statistics under appropriate quality and methodological standards, to ensure reliability and comparability of data obtained from many different sources and jurisdictions.

The statistical services of Federal, provincial and municipal agencies are all integrated into and coordinated by the National Statistical System. In each of the 23 Argentine provinces, as well as in the Federal Capital (the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires) there operates a provincial Statistical Office (DPE, Dirección Provincial de Estadística), under the control of the respective provincial government. Each provincial Statistical Office coordinates statistical activities in its respective province and takes active part in collecting, entering and processing information at that level. In turn, the INDEC and other Federal agencies consolidate the data furnished by the provinces in order to obtain integrated and consistent information from the entire nation. The production of statistical information by the INDEC results from various data collection procedures (censuses, surveys, administrative and other government records) which make it possible to elaborate a number of indicators describing different fields of social and economic interest.