Stats SA aims to inform socio-economic development with accessible quality information through better statistics, better access to information and better management.

Stats SA is committed to being:

• Relevant: providing the data, information and analysis required for implementing and monitoring the country's growth and development strategy.
• Reliable: producing authoritative statistical results on the basis of appropriate procedures that are sensitive to the diversity among our citizens.
• Representative: becoming an organisation that increasingly matches the population with regard to population group, gender and physical disability.
• Responsive: meeting the statistical needs of our stakeholders in national, provincial and local government, labour and management, parastatals and research institutions, civil society and special interest groups.

The work of Stats SA includes:

• Undertaking official demographic, economic and social censuses and surveys
• Collecting and processing administrative statistics
• Publishing and disseminating statistical reports and releases
• Compiling national and government accounts
• Providing statistical advice to government and other institutions
• Analysing statistical surveys and samples to ensure accuracy and consistency.