Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

The Statistical Office of Serbia (Serbian Cyrillic: Републички завод за статистику Србије; Serbian: Republički zavod za statistiku Srbije or RZS) is a specialized government agency of Serbia charged with collecting and disseminating official statistics.

Official statistics in the Republic of Serbia was established in 1862, when Prince Mihailo Obrenovic passed an act granting powers to the economic department of the Ministry of Finance concerning all statistical work.

This was the beginning of state statistics in Serbia, but historic data suggest there was even earlier collecting of statistical data on tax payers, census of the cattle (in 1824) and regular population censuses (from 1834), as well as, since 1843, regular monitoring of statistical data on external trade, domestic trade, prices and wages.

The State Statistics Directorate was founded in 1919 in the scope of the Ministry of Social Policy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, but a separate Statistical Office of Serbia was opened only in 1945.

Simultaneously, the Office has been completely independent regarding financial and human resources and other issues.