# Somali National Bureau of Statistics (SNBS): who counts Somalia > What the Somali National Bureau of Statistics does, its law, its main surveys and reports, the 2024 business census, and how to get its data. Source page: https://calankii.com/en/institutions/national-bureau-of-statistics/ Last checked: 2026-11-12 Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com) ## What it does The Somali National Bureau of Statistics (SNBS) is the official keeper of Somalia's statistics. Its law calls it "the central repository for all statistics generated in Somalia" ([Somali Statistics Law No. 24, Article 6](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Somali-Statistics-Law.pdf)). The law gives it these main jobs (same source, Article 7): - Coordinate the national statistical system across ministries and member states. - Advise the federal and state governments on statistics. - Collect, analyse and publish national statistics, alone or with other bodies. - Keep a national data bank, and help ministries set up their own statistics units. - Be the contact point for international agencies on statistics. It can carry out surveys, and on the advice of its Board the Minister can order a census of the whole country or any part of it (same source, Articles 29 and 30). It must keep personal information confidential, and its staff take an oath of secrecy (Articles 53 and 54). ## How it is run The bureau is an autonomous body with its own legal identity, led by a Director General and a Deputy, with a Board of Directors and six directorates ([SNBS, Annual Report 2024](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SNBS-Annual-report-2024.pdf)). Its head office is in Mogadishu, and the law provides for branches in the member states, regions and districts ([Statistics Law, Article 6](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Somali-Statistics-Law.pdf)). - **May 2020:** the Council of Ministers appointed Sharmarke Farah as the first Director General, with Abdirahman Omar Dahir as Deputy ([SONNA](https://sonna.so/en/somalias-cabinet-appoints-the-director-general-and-deputy-for-the-newly-established-independent-national-bureau-of-statistics)). - **2024:** Dr Abdisalam Abdirahman Mohamed was Director General, with Abdirahman Omar Dahir still Deputy ([SNBS, Annual Report 2024](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SNBS-Annual-report-2024.pdf)). ## Where it came from Somalia's first statistics law was Law No. 35 of 1970. Government statistics stopped with the collapse of 1991. After 2012 the work restarted as a Directorate of National Statistics. Law No. 24 of February 2020 made it an independent bureau, matched to the federal system ([SNBS, Annual Report 2024](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SNBS-Annual-report-2024.pdf); [AidData](https://www.aiddata.org/blog/statistics-development-in-somalia-challenges-and-opportunities-in-a-complex-environment)). ## What it publishes - **Consumer prices:** a monthly price index and inflation rate. See [Prices and inflation](/en/economy/prices-and-inflation/). - **GDP:** yearly national accounts. See [Somalia's GDP 2018 to 2024](/en/data/gdp-national-accounts-2018-2024/). - **Household surveys:** the Somalia Integrated Household Budget Survey of 2022 (7,212 households) measured poverty, spending, schooling, phones and money ([SNBS, SIHBS 2022](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SOMALIA-INTEGRATED-HOUSEHOLD-BUDGET-SURVEY.pdf)). It worked with UNFPA on the Somali Health and Demographic Survey 2020. - **Facts and Figures:** a yearly pocket book of numbers on schools, health, money, trade, government and justice. The 7th edition came out in October 2024 ([SNBS, Facts and Figures 2024](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Facts-and-figures-2024.pdf)). - **Other reports in 2024:** a household shocks report, Somalia's first national disability report, food security data and gender statistics ([SNBS, Annual Report 2024](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SNBS-Annual-report-2024.pdf)). ## The first business census, 2024 In December 2024 the bureau published the Somalia Integrated Business Establishment Census (SIBEC-2024), the first count of every business in the country (same source): - **174,149 businesses** counted: 28 percent formal, 25 percent informal and 47 percent micro. - **What they do:** 78 percent wholesale and retail trade, 10 percent hotels and food, 5 percent other services, 3 percent manufacturing. - **Where:** Banadir 48,387 (28 percent), [Woqooyi Galbeed](/en/regions/woqooyi-galbeed/) (Hargeisa) 31,491 (18 percent) and [Bari](/en/regions/bari/) (Bosaso) 19,308 (11 percent). - **Who works:** men are 66 percent of workers in formal and informal firms; women are 70 percent of workers in micro-businesses. 91 percent of businesses have a single owner. ## The census Somalia's 1975 Population and Livestock Census released only limited data, and a second census in 1985 to 1986 released none ([UNFPA Somalia, census history](https://somalia.unfpa.org/en/node/21328)). The 2014 Population Estimation Survey, run with UNFPA, counted about 12.3 million people ([UNFPA, PESS 2014](https://somalia.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Population-Estimation-Survey-of-Somalia-PESS-2013-2014.pdf)). A new Population and Housing Census was launched in 2023, the first in nearly 50 years ([VOA via GlobalSecurity, May 2023](https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2023/05/mil-230502-voa06.htm)). The bureau in 2024 sent staff to study census work in Djibouti, Burundi and South Africa ([SNBS, Annual Report 2024](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SNBS-Annual-report-2024.pdf)). See [How many people live in Somalia](/en/economy/population/). ## How to use it - **Download data:** reports and tables are free on the bureau's website, nbs.gov.so. - **Ask for data:** the law gives a right of access to published statistics (Article 55). Contact the bureau in Mogadishu at the address on its site. - **[Somaliland](/en/states/somaliland-1991-to-2026/):** Somaliland's Ministry of Planning keeps its own statistics. ## Its legal basis Somali Statistics Law, Law No. 24 of February 2020, which repealed Law No. 35 of 1970. --- I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.