Social Affairs Minister Reveals Cause of Inaccurate Decile Data

The Minister of Social Affairs, Saifullah Yusuf (Gus Ipul), has revealed the root cause of decile classifications that do not align with the actual conditions of the community. According to him, one of the reasons this occurs is due to the influence of 12 million new data points from the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) within Volume 3 of the National Single Social and Economic Data (DTSEN).

Approximately 12 million new data points from the BKKBN had not yet undergone verification and validation, causing decile rankings to fluctuate frequently. This data has now been corrected through DTSEN Volume 3.1, published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (BSS).

“Now, it has been stabilised, tidied, verified, and validated. God willing, within the next 1-2 weeks, this data will become even more accurate,” said Gus Ipul in an official statement on Friday (4/9/2026).

Gus Ipul explained that the government is continuously conducting consolidation and updates to the DTSEN to improve data accuracy. These updates are being carried out through various sources, including direct data improvements in collaboration with local governments.

Gus Ipul emphasised that changes in decile rankings do not automatically result in an individual being removed from the social assistance (bansos) recipient list. The distribution of aid remains subject to the determination of recipients during each distribution period.

“For example, there are currently surges in data, but this does not automatically mean social assistance is lost because we have not yet distributed it. Meanwhile, for PBI (subsidised health insurance), it is processed once every month,” Gus Ipul explained.