Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek

What Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek does

Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek (CBS), or Statistics Netherlands, is the Dutch national statistical office, founded on 9 January 1899 and headquartered in The Hague with additional offices in Heerlen and Bonaire. Operating as an autonomous administrative body (ZBO) under Dutch law, CBS collects, produces, and disseminates official statistics that inform government policy, the European statistical system (Eurostat), OECD, and UN reporting obligations, as well as public debate — generating roughly 75,000 media mentions per year. Its primary outputs include the StatLine online database (14 billion figures across more than 4,000 tables), around 600 statistical surveys annually, and continuous releases of daily statistical findings.

The agency's underlying technology stack combines large-scale survey infrastructure, registry data integration, and increasingly AI/ML-driven methods such as moving probability estimation for population dynamics, text mining for unstructured sources, smart adaptive surveys, web-scraped consumer price indices, and synthetic data generation for privacy-preserving microdata services. Data governance is anchored in ISO 9001:2015 quality management, ISO 27001:2013 information security, and a Privacy Audit Proof conformance regime. Roughly 2,000 staff — predominantly highly educated — operate this infrastructure, supported by partnerships with Dutch universities, TNO, and the Dutch AI Coalition (NL AIC), and international bodies including Eurostat, the OECD, and the UN.

CBS is funded through the national government budget rather than commercial revenue, with approximately 95% of its operating costs tied to European-mandated statistical production. Its customer base is therefore overwhelmingly public-sector: national ministries, European institutions, municipal authorities, researchers, and the general public accessing open data. Strategic priorities for the 2024–2028 multi-annual programme emphasise data-driven methods, technology modernisation, and the safeguarding of editorial independence within the European Statistical System framework.

Name

Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek

Legal name

Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek

Website

https://cbs.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

1899

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek (CBS) is the Dutch national statistical office, producing official statistics from 600 annual surveys and the StatLine database for government, European institutions, researchers, and the public, funded primarily by the Dutch national budget.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

National Statistical Services

NAICS

Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support (921)

akta.pro primary industry

National Statistics & Census Administration (BPAIAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Data Journalism & News Intelligence Publishers (Indexes, Election/Market Data) (MPAJADAK)

Keywords

• Official statistical services
• National statistical office
• Economic data publishing
• Demographic statistics production
• Government statistical agency

Headquarters

HQ city

The Hague

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: CBS is funded from the Dutch state budget as an autonomous administrative body (ZBO). The Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy bears political responsibility. CBS performs government tasks but is not directly subject to ministerial authority.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels8 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) is the official national statistical office of the Netherlands, producing and publishing authoritative statistics on the Dutch economy, society, and environment. It conducts approximately 600 statistical surveys per year, combines survey data with government registers, and disseminates results through the StatLine database (over 4,000 tables with approximately 14 billion figures), daily news releases, interactive dashboards, microdata services for researchers, and customized statistical research.

Product overview

Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) is the official statistical agency of the Netherlands, operating as a unified platform-plus-services model. The core offering centers on StatLine, the primary statistical database portal containing over 4,000 tables with approximately 14 billion figures. This is complemented by Open Data services for public data access, Microdata Services for academic research access to pseudonymised data, and Blaise Software for survey management. Additional products include interactive Dashboards (such as the Business Cycle Tracer and Population Dashboard), the Rent Increase Calculator tool, the 'Cijfers voor iedereen' Podcast series, Customized Statistical Research services, and an Archive service. CBS conducts approximately 600 statistical surveys annually, covering topics including labor, income, economy, society, and regional data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• StatLine Primary online statistical database portal providing access to over 4,000 tables containing approximately 14 billion figures on Dutch society, economy, and demographics. Free public access to CBS's main statistical dissemination platform.
• Open Data Open data services providing public access to CBS statistical datasets and information in machine-readable formats for reuse by researchers, policymakers, and citizens.
• Microdata Services Customized access to pseudonymised microdata for academic and research institutions under strict conditions, enabling advanced statistical research beyond aggregated published figures.
• Blaise Software Survey software used by CBS for conducting statistical surveys, enabling data collection through questionnaires for persons and businesses. Distributed to organizations conducting statistical surveys.
• Dashboards Interactive visualizations including the Business Cycle Tracer Dashboard, Population Dashboard, and various thematic dashboards presenting key economic and social statistics.
• Rent Increase Calculator Online calculation tool enabling users to calculate rent increases based on CBS index figures.
• Cijfers voor iedereen Podcast CBS podcast series featuring discussions on statistical topics with experts, covering themes such as integration, housing prices, income inequality, and causes of death.
• Customized Statistical Research Additional statistical research services providing tailored analysis beyond standard published statistics for specific research needs.
• Archive Web archive service preserving all CBS website content daily, allowing access to historical information and past publications.

Quantifiable outcome

• 14 billion figures available in StatLine database
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability10 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• European Statistical System (ESS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCBS is part of the European Statistical System (ESS), a partnership between the European Commission (Eurostat) and statistical offices of EU countries of the European Economic Area (EEA) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA). 95% of CBS budget is spent on European mandatory statistics. This is the core partnership for CBS's statistical production.
• Eurostat (European Commission)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEurostat is the statistical office of the European Union. CBS works under EU statistical obligations and produces statistics required by EU regulations. Eurostat provides grants for innovative statistical projects.
• United Nations (UN)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCBS participates in UN Statistical Commission and works with UN Economic Commission for Europe. These organizations play an increasingly important role in developing statistical standards, concepts, and methods.
• Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOECD plays a growing role in statistical standards development. CBS cooperates with OECD on international statistical reporting and methodology.
• Dutch Universities and CollegesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCBS cooperates with universities and colleges for knowledge development, research projects, and methodological innovation. Collaboration includes joint research on statistical methods and access to microdata for academic purposes.
• CBS AcademymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternal knowledge development program providing methodology courses for CBS employees. Also collaborates with external knowledge institutes for ongoing professional development.
• Netherlands AI Coalition (NL AIC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCBS is a member of the NL AIC strategy team. This public-private partnership aims to encourage Dutch activities in AI. CBS contributes expertise in fair algorithms and transparent AI use in government.
• TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research)majorTechnology or IntegrationCBS cooperates with TNO on privacy-preserving techniques and transparent, verifiable AI use in government. Joint exploration of advanced privacy enhancing techniques.
• Maastricht UniversitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on federated learning and distributed learning techniques. Research partnership for privacy-preserving data analysis methods.
• Rijkswaterstaat (RWS)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRWS is a key user of container chain data for infrastructure planning and maintenance forecasting. CBS provides statistics to support transport flow predictions.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Statistics Norway (SSB): Norwegian national statistical office with directly comparable mandate, similarly operating as autonomous government agency producing official statistics on economy, society, and population. Comparable in scale and methodology to CBS.
• ISTAT: Italian national statistical institute operating under similar EU statistical framework with comparable mandate to CBS. Produces official statistics on Italian economy, society, and demographics.
• Statistics Sweden (SCB): Swedish national statistical agency with directly comparable mandate. Similar organizational structure producing official statistics under EU framework, comparable size and methodology focus.
• INSEE: France's national statistical institute with directly comparable mandate under EU statistical framework. Comparable in producing official economic, demographic, and social statistics with similar methodology and dissemination approach.
• Destatis (Statistisches Bundesamt): German federal statistical office, larger peer operating under similar EU statistical framework. Comparable in mandate (national statistics), scope (economy, society, environment), and role in European Statistical System.
• Office for National Statistics (ONS): UK's national statistical office producing official statistics across economy, society, and demographics. Similar in mandate and product offering (open data, microdata services, surveys), though larger and operating outside EU framework post-Brexit.

Broad incumbents

• Eurostat: Statistical office of the European Commission that CBS works with as core member of European Statistical System. Eurostat aggregates national statistics from EU members and defines methodological standards that CBS must follow.

Regional players

• Statistics Canada: Canadian national statistical agency with comparable mandate to produce official statistics on economy, society, and demographics. Similar scale and methodology, but operates outside EU framework and serves different geography.
• Australian Bureau of Statistics: Australian national statistical agency with comparable mandate to produce official statistics on Australian economy, society, and population. Similar scale and methodology, but serves different geographic market outside Europe.
• U.S. Census Bureau: U.S. federal statistical agency primarily focused on census and demographic/economic statistics. Comparable in mandate for official statistics production but larger scale and operates in U.S. regulatory environment rather than EU.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/statistiekcbs
• Facebookfacebook.com/statistiekcbs
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/centraal-bureau-voor-de-statistiek
• Instagraminstagram.com/statistiekcbs

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek