GASTAT
Saudi government authority responsible for official statistics. Its statistical system dates to a 1960 royal decree, and it became an independent public authority in 2015.
Industry: Government statistics | Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Founded: 1960
About GASTAT
The General Authority for Statistics, known as GASTAT, is the Saudi government body responsible for official statistics. Its website calls it the only official statistical reference for implementing, supervising and regulating statistical work in the Kingdom and says it has independent legal personality. It publishes economic statistics such as national accounts, prices, trade and the digital economy, social statistics covering the labour market, health, housing and education, and environmental and spatial statistics including tourism, transport, energy and agriculture, along with results of the Saudi Census 2022.
GASTAT dates Saudi statistical work to 1930, when an imports and exports statistics system began. A General Statistics System issued by Royal Decree No. 23 on 1 June 1960 organised the sector. In 1995 the Central Department of Statistics moved under the Ministry of Economy and Planning. A Royal Order dated 1436 AH, corresponding to 2015, turned it into a public authority with legal and financial independence. It marked 65 years of official statistical work on 14 July 2025 at its new headquarters in Riyadh.
The board is chaired by the Minister of Economy and Planning, Faisal Alibrahim. It also includes ministers, the director of the National Information Center, the authority's president and two statistics experts. Fahad Aldossari has been president since 19 June 2022. He was previously a deputy governor of the Saudi central bank, responsible for systems analysis, economic research and statistics.
Aldossari said in July 2025 that the Kingdom led Arab countries on the Statistical Performance Index in 2023 and rose 22 places globally. GASTAT signed a research memorandum with King Saud University on 4 August 2026 covering applied statistics and artificial intelligence. It hosted the 15th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Statistical Committee in Jeddah on 29 and 30 September 2026. On 22 October 2026 it announced that the Sixth UN World Data Forum and the Second Saudi Statistics Forum had been postponed to 2027.
TechScoop reported in June 2026, citing a GASTAT report on information technology, that 33.1 percent of Saudi businesses used artificial intelligence in 2025, up from 27.6 percent in 2024.
Leadership
- Sarah Al-Suhaimi, Board Member; Expert in Statistics
- David Wayne Kalisch, Board Member; Expert in Statistics