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Brief history

Before Insee

In 1833, at the Ministry of Trade, a General Statistics Office was created, which in 1840 took the name it was to keep until 1941: Statistique Générale de la France (SGF). At the end of 1936, this became a department of the Ministry of the National Economy. In particular, SGF produced demographic statistics and price indices. It coordinated statistics from all sources and disseminated them in the Statistics Directory (created in 1878), the Bulletin of general statistics in France (created in 1911) and specifically targeted publications.

In 1941 the National Statistics Service (Service National des Statistiques, SNS) was created, taking on many staff from the former army recruitment offices, as well as recovering tabulating equipment destined for the various regional offices.

1946-1966: The construction of Insee

Against a backdrop of post-war reconstruction and reorganisation, Insee was created according to the terms of the Budget Law of 27 April 1946, "L'Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques pour la métropole et la France d'outre-mer", the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies for France and its overseas territories. From the outset, Insee was given responsibility for managing administrative files, maintaining nomenclatures and producing statistics. The Law of 28 August 1946 gave Insee responsibility for the electoral roll. The first national file of establishments was created by decree in 1948. The exploitation of administrative documents began with tax forms relating to wages (1947-1950). Survey techniques imported from the United States were used for surveys on family budgets, housing, health and labour costs.

From 1961, national accounts work was carried out at Insee, in line with international standards.

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1967-1987: Insee affirms its independence and adapts to the requirements of users

Insee extended its information dissemination capacity, especially in the regions. In 1969, new publications were introduced, such as Économie et statistique, Tendances de la conjoncture, Annales, and Informations rapides. Statistical practices were evolving: more surveys were being carried out on households and companies, collecting much more varied data. 1969 was the year of the first annual survey of companies in industry and construction, which was completed by Insee in 1972. The national accounts became quarterly in 1980 and were used as a framework for the Conjoncture in France publication.

Since statistics departments could now be found in a growing number of the other administrations, Insee strengthened its role as coordinator and gave these departments the necessary frameworks.

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1988-2006: Modernisation and participation in the European statistics system

Insee adapted its methods, not only for statistics but also for accounts or studies, to a more cyclical economy and one which was more open to the outside. New monitoring instruments were put in place, especially for underprivileged populations (e.g. survey of homeless people) and for new information and communication technologies (NICT).

The European institutional context became more restrictive within the Economic and Monetary Union. Quality norms - including norms in European regulations - had to be adhered to, especially in publication deadlines and "meta-information". Insee adopted the use of the Internet, both for collecting data and for dissemination. From 2003, freely available information on the Internet became the rule. Finally, from 2004, the national census became an "ongoing" operation.

Teaching and research were given fresh impetus by the decree of 2 June 1994 establishing the Group of National Schools of Economics and Statistics - Groupe des écoles nationales d'économie et de statistique (Genes).

In 2005, with the adoption at European level of the European Statistics Code of Practice, INSEE undertook to comply with principles shared by its partners.

In 2008 two European consultative bodies were set up following negotiations aiming to improve the quality of European statistics: the European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC) and the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB).

With the French law on the modernisation of the economy, adopted on 4 August 2008, the professional independence of INSEE is inscribed in the law.

EC regulation n°223/2009 of the European Parliament and Council relating to European statistics defines a wide-ranging conceptual and operational framework for the compilation of European statistics.

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