A Census is taken primarily to obtain a count of the entire Sint Maarten population and to collect demographic & socio-economic data of the country. Based on UN recommendations, a Census is conducted at least every 10 years.

STAT depends heavily on the cooperation of both inhabitants and businesses in providing various data on for example their economic position, spending habits, household/business structures, income, investments, operating expenses, which is later aggregated and further processed into statistics.

The prices collected are used to calculate the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is a measure of the average changes in prices over time of goods and services purchased by households. It is a useful economic measure, used to determine inflation and to adjust salaries, pensions, rental contracts, etc.

To enable STAT to collect financial data & variations in the economy. This data is then compiled with that of other sectors to determine the "National Accounts" or bookkeeping of the country. Key indicators derived from this data include Gross Domestic Product & real growth.