Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Annex I-IV: STATISTICAL SERVICE OF CYPRUS (CYSTAT)
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Annex I-IV: Business Statistics Division
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Annex I-IV:
Michael Karaolis Str., 1444 Nicosia, Cyprus
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
31 March 2023
2.2. Metadata last posted
31 March 2023
2.3. Metadata last update
31 March 2023
3.1. Data description
Structural business statistics (SBS) describes the structure, conduct and performance of economic activities, down to the most detailed activity level (several hundred economic sectors).
SBS covers all activities of the non-financial business economy with the exception of agricultural activities and personal services. Limited information is available on banking, insurance and pension funds.
Main characteristics (variables) of the SBS data category:
Business demographic variables (e.g. Number of enterprises)
"Output related" variables (e.g. Turnover, Value added)
"Input related" variables: labour input (e.g. Employment, Hours worked); goods and services input (e.g. Total of purchases); capital input (e.g. Material investments)
3.2. Classification system
Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE): NACE Rev.1 was used until 2001, NACE Rev. 1.1 since 2002, and NACE Rev 2 is used from 2008 onwards. Key data were double reported in NACE Rev.1.1 and NACE Rev.2 for 2008. From 2009 onwards, only NACE Rev.2 data are available.
The regional breakdown of the EU Member States is based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS). Detailed information about the consecutive NUTS Regulations can be found at Eurostat's website
The SBS coverage was limited to Sections C to K of NACE Rev.1.1 until 2007. Starting from the reference year 2008 data is available for Sections B to N and Division S95 of NACE Rev.2. With 2013 as the first reference year information is published on NACE codes K6411, K6419 and K65 and its breakdown.
The statistical unit used for compiling the SBS series is the enterprise.
The SBS team has selected 50 important enterprises that are delineated. The SBS team manually calculates the required variables from the financial accounts of legal units belonging in these enterprises. The output of this exercise is incorporated to the data sets transmitted to Eurostat. The list of 50 enterprises is reassessed every year and whenever needed adjustments are made.
For the time being, we are not planning to implement automatic profiling methods for smaller enterprises.
Taking into account the principle of proportionality and having in mind the size of the Cyprus economy, the availability of administrative data, the human resources available to CYSTAT and the heavy workload, we consider that the delineation of 50 important enterprises constitutes a very high level of compliance to the Regulation.
3.6. Statistical population
All active market enterprises with main activity in sections B-N and S95 of NACE Rev. 2 classification system. The statistical business register is the frame for identifying units for the population. No thresholds are applied.
3.7. Reference area
Republic of Cyprus.
3.8. Coverage - Time
1995-2020
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Number of enterprises and number of local units are expressed in units.
Monetary data are expressed in millions of €.
Employment variables are expressed in units.
Per head values are expressed in thousands of € per head.
Ratios are expressed in percentages.
2020
Data refer to the annual results of businesses. Data refer to calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Official statistics are released in accordance to all confidentiality provisions of the following:
• Official Statistics Law of 2021 (Law No. 25(I)/2021) (especially Article 16 on statistical confidentiality).
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and its later amendments (especially Chapter 5 on statistical confidentiality).
The Statistical Service is obliged to treat all data collected as confidential. The information is exclusively used for the production of statistics only and no person or public authority has access to the individual data of any enterprise.
No data are published for individual firms and/or when there is only one or two firms in an activity breakdown, unless prior agreement has been obtained from the enterprise concerned, or in cases where the enterprise was a semi-government organisation or a public company. The most common practice for secondary confidentiality is to censor the activity with the lowest turnover.
Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on CYSTAT’s website. The annual release calendar, announced during the 4th quarter of each year, includes provisional dates which are finalised the week before publication.
According to the Dissemination Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus (section 2.3) CYSTAT΄s main channel for dissemination of statistics is the website, which offers the same conditions to everyone and is updated at the same time every working day (12:00 noon). Privileged pre-released access (of no more than 1 day in advance) has been granted to a few selected users for specific statistics. These are specified in the Dissemination Policy (section 2.3). In addition to the annual release calendar, users are informed of the various statistical releases through the “Alert” service provided by CYSTAT.
Dissemination and Pricing Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus:
Statistical microdata from CYSTAT’s surveys are accessible for research purposes only and under strict provisions as described below:
Under the provisions of the Official Statistics Law, CYSTAT may release microdata for the sole use of scientific research. Applicants have to submit the request form "APPLICATION FOR DATA FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES" giving thorough information on the project for which micro-data are needed. The application is evaluated by CYSTAT’s Confidentiality Committee and if the application is approved, a charge is fixed according to the volume and time consumed for preparation of the data. Microdata may then be released after an anonymisation process which ensures no direct identification of the statistical units but, at the same time, ensures usability of the data. The link for the application is attached below.
The latest publication includes data up to 2019. A newer verion with data up to 2020 is expected to be published soon.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Methodologies used are described in publications. The documentation on methodology is available in Greek and English. The links to the latest publications are stated in section 10.2.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
The Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT) has set its strategic goal to provide high-quality statistical information in an objective, transparent, reliable and timely manner. We consider quality to be our main advantage in a world experiencing a growing trend of instant information which often lacks the necessary proof of quality.
In order to realise strategic goals it is imperative to establish policies which ensure that an organisation is moving towards the right direction. For this reason, CYSTAT established the Quality Policy which forms the basis of all statistical activities and leads towards continuous improvement of its statistical output.
The quality of statistics in CYSTAT is managed in the framework of the European Statistics Code of Practice which sets the standards for developing, producing and disseminating European Statistics as well as the ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF). CYSTAT endorses the Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System. In addition, CYSTAT is guided by the requirements provided for in Article 12 of the Statistics Law No. 15(I) of 2000 as well as Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics, which sets out the quality criteria to be applied in the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.
There are internal and external users of the data. The overall assessment of data quality is high.
The data published at the national level are different from the data that are sent to Eurostat.
Overall the coefficients of variation are low. Whenever an issue is identified, measures are taken (re-examining the sample and the sample size of the stratum). The response rate is very high.
No delays of data transmissions to Eurostat for the reference year 2020.
The data are coherent and comparable.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The main internal users include: national annual accounts, CIS-R&D statistics, ICT statistics, short-term statistics, foreign direct investment. Internal users often need micro level data. SBS micro level data are mainly used as a direct data source for the production of other statistics (e.g. national annual accounts including the financial accounts, CIS-R&D) or to calculate index weights (e.g. short-term statistics). Other uses are quality checks, use of the data for sampling purposes, etc.
The main external users include: Government ministries/departments responsible for policy making, employers' organisations, trade unions, enterprises, academics/researchers, students, media/press, marketing companies, national central bank, lobby and policy groups, private users, Eurostat, ECB, international organisations and others. External users are often interested in the variables “number of [units]”, “turnover”, “value-added” and “employment” by economic activity as well as by employment size class. Sometimes, concentrations ratios (e.g. market share of top 5 companies, etc.) are requested but due to disclosure issues, these are not provided.
The data published at the national level are different from the data that are sent to Eurostat (different variables, activity analysis etc.)
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Since 2008 (with the exception of 2010 and 2013) CYSTAT carries out an annual online “Users Satisfaction Survey”. The results of the surveys are available on CYSTAT’s website at the link attached below.
Overall, the users of statistical data published by CYSTAT are satisfied.
Results of most recent CYSTAT’s User Satisfaction Surveys:
Data for all the variables required are collected therefore all statistics that are needed are available and comply fully with the relevant regulations and guidelines. They are published both at national and at EUROSTAT level.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The results of SBS are subject to sampling and non sampling errors.
Sampling errors are assessed with quality indicators.
Non-sampling errors can be caused from problems and errors in the Statistical Business Register. Such common problems are misclassification and non-coverage. The impact of these errors is considered to be small.
13.2. Sampling error
Coefficient of Variation = square root (estimate of the sampling variance) / estimated value.
Outliers are excluded from the calculation.
The computation of the CVs is performed with the MS Access software.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Data collection is done by means of a personal interview at the enterprises’ premises and as a result non-response is negligible. Enumerators are suitably trained to carry out these interviews and fill in the questionnaires with the required information. Furthermore, all the surveys that are carried out by the Statistical Service of Cyprus are in accordance with the Officail Statistics Law of 2021, where the obligation to respond is mandatory.
14.1. Timeliness
Last data collection: t+17 months
Dissemination - Eurostat: t+18 months
Dissemination at national level: t+19 - t+24 months
14.2. Punctuality
No delays of data transmissions to Eurostat for the reference year 2020.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The whole of Cyprus is treated as one territory.
15.2. Comparability - over time
2008-2020. There are no breaks in time-series.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Number of enterprises might be different (minimal inconsistencies) between SBS and Business Demography basically, due to the different date of submission between SBS and Business Demography data where some classification corrections might take place. Obviously, there are small inconsistencies in the evolution of turnover and persons employed from short-term statistics, basically due to the different methodology applied and the sample size between SBS and STS. Finally, SBS is the source of National Accounts for value added, however there might be differences after the adjustments made for National Accounts purposes.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Data have full internal coherence, as they are consistent within the micro-data set.
Data collection is carried out by a number of interviewers, who are casual staff. Six Statistics Officers are responsible for monitoring, supervision and coordination of the surveys at the four domains. In recent years, a number of administrative sources is being used, whenever this is possible, in order to reduce burden on respondents.
17.1. Data revision - policy
CYSTAT's "Revision Policy" describes the general rules and principles governing the procedure of revising data published by CYSTAT.
Revisions in SBS can take place for a number of reasons such as:
To include improved source data
Reclassification of enterprise(s)
To adopt improved methodology
To correct errors.
The compilation of preliminary data is mostly based on the following:
Preliminary data provided by the enterprises
Various relevant short-term indices (i.e. Turnover Index, unemployment figures, production index etc)
Historical data/trends of each economic sector and
Any other abnormal factors (i.e. economic crisis) during the reference period that could affect significantly the estimations.
18.1. Source data
Stratified sampling with stratification criteria activity, employment size class. The strata used for sampling are persons employed classes: 0-1, 2-9, 10-19, 20-49, 50-249, 250 and more.
The sampling frame is the Statistical Business Register. Turnover or employment are the main variables for identifying the principal and secondary activities, using a top-down approach. The Business Register is updated yearly. The unit's principal activity is also updated yearly.
For each stratum, a sample of predetermined size is drawn systematically with probability proportional to size, from a list ordered by enterprise size. Enterprises over a pre-defined size are fully covered.
Percentages of units sampled: 0-1 5%, 2-9 14%, 10-19 53%, 20+ 98%.
There is no threshold. The sample size is about 8.000 enterprises.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual data collection
18.3. Data collection
An announcement on the website of CYSTAT informs on the commencement of the collection of the data. Afterwards the responsible persons are contacted via telephone to book a date and time. Data are collected with personal interviews in paper questionnaires. Whenever possible data are collected from financial accounts. Whenever problems arise, responsible officers make additional calls to the unit.
For the 2020 reference year, data for Annex 3 (Trade) were collected with the CAPI method, utilizing the Blaise software. This procedure proved to be beneficial and from the reference year 2021 it is also be applied to the other domains.
18.4. Data validation
During data entry, data checks are done in order to prevent invalid data value entries. When all row data are entered to the MS Access database system, data inconsistencies checks are done among related variables to identify errors or warnings for predefined boundaries for either specific variables or ratios. Before transmitted to Eurostat, data are also checked with the edamis data validation tool.
18.5. Data compilation
Due to the procedures followed during data collection (personal interview at the enterprises’ premises), the item non-responses are minimal and all the required information in the questionnaire is recorded. As a result, the number of incomplete questionnaires is very low. When actual figures for a specific variable are not available, these are estimated based on the previous year’s enterprises actual data and the trend of basic variables of the enterprise, or from administrative sources if available. Data for enterprises that do not respond are either estimated based on the previous year’s enterprises actual data and the trend of the responses of the same activity and size class, or a correction factor in the weighting procedure is applied.
18.6. Adjustment
The reference period is the calendar year.
A very small number of enterprises (less than 10) which use a different period, provide data for the business year which terminates in the SBS reference year. These data are adjusted to the calendar year.
There are no foreseeable changes in the methodology for the next year. However, efforts are being made to include more administrative sources into data compilation. The progress will depend on the availability and quality of these sources.
Structural business statistics (SBS) describes the structure, conduct and performance of economic activities, down to the most detailed activity level (several hundred economic sectors).
SBS covers all activities of the non-financial business economy with the exception of agricultural activities and personal services. Limited information is available on banking, insurance and pension funds.
Main characteristics (variables) of the SBS data category:
Business demographic variables (e.g. Number of enterprises)
"Output related" variables (e.g. Turnover, Value added)
"Input related" variables: labour input (e.g. Employment, Hours worked); goods and services input (e.g. Total of purchases); capital input (e.g. Material investments)
The statistical unit used for compiling the SBS series is the enterprise.
The SBS team has selected 50 important enterprises that are delineated. The SBS team manually calculates the required variables from the financial accounts of legal units belonging in these enterprises. The output of this exercise is incorporated to the data sets transmitted to Eurostat. The list of 50 enterprises is reassessed every year and whenever needed adjustments are made.
For the time being, we are not planning to implement automatic profiling methods for smaller enterprises.
Taking into account the principle of proportionality and having in mind the size of the Cyprus economy, the availability of administrative data, the human resources available to CYSTAT and the heavy workload, we consider that the delineation of 50 important enterprises constitutes a very high level of compliance to the Regulation.
All active market enterprises with main activity in sections B-N and S95 of NACE Rev. 2 classification system. The statistical business register is the frame for identifying units for the population. No thresholds are applied.
Republic of Cyprus.
2020
Data refer to the annual results of businesses. Data refer to calendar year.
The results of SBS are subject to sampling and non sampling errors.
Sampling errors are assessed with quality indicators.
Non-sampling errors can be caused from problems and errors in the Statistical Business Register. Such common problems are misclassification and non-coverage. The impact of these errors is considered to be small.
Number of enterprises and number of local units are expressed in units.
Monetary data are expressed in millions of €.
Employment variables are expressed in units.
Per head values are expressed in thousands of € per head.
Ratios are expressed in percentages.
Due to the procedures followed during data collection (personal interview at the enterprises’ premises), the item non-responses are minimal and all the required information in the questionnaire is recorded. As a result, the number of incomplete questionnaires is very low. When actual figures for a specific variable are not available, these are estimated based on the previous year’s enterprises actual data and the trend of basic variables of the enterprise, or from administrative sources if available. Data for enterprises that do not respond are either estimated based on the previous year’s enterprises actual data and the trend of the responses of the same activity and size class, or a correction factor in the weighting procedure is applied.
Stratified sampling with stratification criteria activity, employment size class. The strata used for sampling are persons employed classes: 0-1, 2-9, 10-19, 20-49, 50-249, 250 and more.
The sampling frame is the Statistical Business Register. Turnover or employment are the main variables for identifying the principal and secondary activities, using a top-down approach. The Business Register is updated yearly. The unit's principal activity is also updated yearly.
For each stratum, a sample of predetermined size is drawn systematically with probability proportional to size, from a list ordered by enterprise size. Enterprises over a pre-defined size are fully covered.
Percentages of units sampled: 0-1 5%, 2-9 14%, 10-19 53%, 20+ 98%.
There is no threshold. The sample size is about 8.000 enterprises.
Annual
Last data collection: t+17 months
Dissemination - Eurostat: t+18 months
Dissemination at national level: t+19 - t+24 months
