Ministry of Statistics to release economic census results in December, adding AI and robot survey items

The Ministry of Statistics will release in December the results of an economic census that, for the first time, tracks AI and robot adoption and smart factory operations — reflecting broad changes in the country's industrial structure. The ministry also plans to link tax, financial, medical and education data scattered across government agencies, and to build a data framework that allows AI to accurately interpret and use national statistics.

Minister An Hyung-jun announced the plans Thursday at a national audit briefing before the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee, held at the Government Daejeon Complex. "To understand shifts in industrial structure, we added new survey items to the 2025 economic census conducted this year — including AI and robot use and the adoption of smart factories," An said. "We will release the results in December."

The economic census is conducted every five years to capture the structure and changes in employment, production and other aspects of the domestic economy. This round surveyed all businesses operating in South Korea as of the end of last year, with fieldwork carried out in June and July. Preliminary results are due in December, with final results to follow in June next year.

New survey items include AI and robot use, smart factory and smart farm operations, unmanned store operations, and the employment of foreign workers. The additions are intended to gauge how widely new technologies and shifts in workforce composition have spread across industry, and to support evidence-based policymaking.

AI was also integrated into the survey process itself. The system automatically suggested industry classification candidates for businesses, and an AI-powered call center operated around the clock. The ministry also worked to reduce the burden of on-site surveys by expanding online data collection and making greater use of administrative records.

The ministry is also moving to break down data silos between government agencies. By next year, it plans to establish a "National Data for All" framework linking population, household, housing and corporate registries with tax, financial, medical and education data held across 21 pan-government data centers.

Rather than consolidating data from each agency into a single repository, the system will connect the centers through dedicated networks. The structure shifts from one in which agencies linked data bilaterally on an ad hoc basis to one in which the Ministry of Statistics serves as a hub for linking and analyzing information across multiple institutions.

"We will build a new national data management framework that allows public and private data to be linked, combined and used safely and smoothly," An said.

Building on that foundation, the ministry plans to develop integrated databases on elderly residents, deceased individuals and homeowners. The elderly database will combine housing, employment, pension, welfare and income data to provide a comprehensive picture of living conditions, employment and welfare in old age. The deceased database will link cause of death with household composition, child-rearing and employment data to support policies aimed at preventing suicide and solitary deaths. The homeowner database will add loan and publicly assessed price information to property ownership records, enabling multidimensional analysis of the number of properties and debt levels held by individual owners.

The ministry will also build "AI-friendly statistical metadata" — structured information describing the meaning and definitions of statistical figures and the relationships between datasets — so that AI systems can read and analyze national statistics. The metadata will be organized in a format that AI can interpret and reason over, with errors and duplication reduced to improve analytical reliability.

The ministry will draw up an information strategy plan this year and build a statistical metadata database between 2027 and 2028. From 2029, the database will be opened to the public and promoted as the national metadata standard.

The ministry will also expand a service that generates statistical tables in response to plain-language queries from the public. A generative AI-based search and retrieval pilot launched in July through the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) will be upgraded by December based on user feedback. An AI-powered policy indicator and monitoring system for tracking price movements of key daily necessities — including processed foods and manufactured goods — will also be in place by the same month.

The ministry plans to expand statistics that reflect economic and social change. In November, it will release results from the population and housing census covering family caregiving, marriage intentions and childbearing plans. In December, it will publish a revised consumer price index based on 2025 benchmarks, with updated representative items and weightings to reflect shifts in household spending. The ministry will also conduct analysis of youth labor market entry patterns and income mobility associated with migration between regions.

To establish a legal foundation for overseeing and coordinating national data policy, the ministry is pursuing the enactment of a Basic Act on National Data and the creation of a National Data Committee. It is also preparing to establish a dedicated special-purpose legal entity to support the systematic management and provision of national data.

"As the chief officer for national data, I will fulfill my role in coordinating data policy through the enactment of the Basic Act on National Data and in lowering barriers to data use," An said.