Decile Rankings Can Change Every Three Months, Explains BPS
The Bali Provincial Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) has emphasised that the implementation of the Economic Census does not automatically alter the decile or welfare levels of the community. Decile data can change because it is updated periodically every three months.
The Head of BPS Bali Province, Agus Gede Hendrayana Hermawan, explained that the update of decile data does not originate solely from BPS. According to him, the data is gathered from various sources.
“The update regarding deciles occurs once every three months, and it is not just BPS that performs the update. Therefore, the decile data updates come from various sources,” Agus stated in Denpasar on Tuesday (1/9/2026).
Agus revealed that the data used in the decile updates comes from various agencies. This includes Dapodik data related to students, PLN data regarding electricity usage, and results from the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas).
Furthermore, data updates are also conducted periodically through the facilitators of the Family Hope Program (PKH) from the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos). Data from these various sources are then collected and processed to produce the decile data updates every three months.
“Decile data is very dynamic. Why is it dynamic? Because it relates to welfare; expenditure can change rapidly. Although not across the board, such changes do exist,” he added.
Agus emphasised that a decile is not the same as an absolute poverty figure. In his view, poverty figures may change alongside the economic conditions of the community, whereas deciles describe a position of welfare based on a number of indicators.
In determining the decile, he continued, there are approximately 41 indicators taken into account. These include housing indicators and asset ownership. Agus stressed that the determination of a decile considers various indicators as a whole, rather than just a single factor.
“For example, one might think, ‘Oh, my floor is better than theirs, so why is my decile lower?’ But it turns out that other indicators do not reflect that,” Agus explained.