An Economic Census (ECS) is a statistical survey conducted on the full set of economic units belonging to a given population or universe. It is the complete enumeration of a population or groups at a point in time with respect to well defined characteristics. An economic census is the total process of collecting, compiling, evaluating, analyzing and publishing or otherwise disseminating economic data pertaining, at a specified time, to all units in a country or in a well delimited part of a country. There was therefore no sampling done.

The Department of Statistics (STAT) from the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic & Telecommunications, conducted an Economic Census Survey (ECS) from May 2nd to September 7th 2018. An Economic Census involves a count of all economic units actively operating within an economic territory as well as gathering data on their main characteristics.

The Department of Statistics is preparing field operations for an Economic Census, scheduled to start in just over one months’ time. This upcoming research activity will involve a count of economic units actively operating on Dutch St. Maarten, and collection of general characteristics and financial data from these entities.