How many people live in Guernsey? Are wages keeping up with costs? And how strong is the economy really? For now, clear answers to those questions remain out of reach as we head into a new year…

A recently published timetable for national statistics in 2026 shows that several of the island’s most important datasets are still unavailable, following problems linked to changes in IT infrastructure at the Revenue Service.

While the calendar sets out when some official statistics are expected to be released over the coming year, it also confirms that a number of major publications were not produced in 2025 and have not yet been scheduled for 2026.

These include figures on population size, employment and earnings, household incomes, poverty, and overall economic output – data that is routinely used by politicians, businesses and community organisations to inform decisions and debate.

The States has previously acknowledged that one of the consequences of the IT programme is that the data needed to produce certain national statistics cannot currently be provided to the Data and Analysis Service.

What exactly are we missing?

As a result, the following publications were not issued last year and remain absent from the 2026 calendar for now:

  • Annual Electronic Census Report (March 2024) – a report providing an estimate of how many people are living in Guernsey
  • Quarterly Population, Employment and Earnings Bulletins (June, September and December 2024) – reports showing how many people are employed in Guernsey, and how much money they are making to get by
  • Annual Gross Value Added and Gross Domestic Product Bulletin (2024) – the overall size and wellbeing of Guernsey’s economy
  • Annual Household Income Report (2023) – how much wealth each household in Guernsey has
  • Annual Indicators of Poverty Report (2024) – a measure of the scale and depth of the issues facing the island’s most vulnerable people

Officials say these will be added to the calendar once there is more certainty about data availability.

While the calendar signals that work is ongoing to restore statistical outputs, the absence of these core datasets means Guernsey continues into another year without up-to-date, official answers to some of the most basic questions about its population, economy and living standards.

For now, islanders, policymakers and businesses will have to wait longer for the figures that usually underpin everything from housing policy to pay negotiations and poverty support.

Ongoing scrutiny…

The release of the 2026 schedule comes as scrutiny continues over the Revenue Service IT programme.

In November, Boley Smillie, Chief Executive and Head of the Public Service, announced a wide-ranging review of the project after it became clear that delivery had fallen short of the original vision and expectations.

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