Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques
The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (), abbreviated INSEE ( , ), is the national statistics bureau of France. It collects and publishes information about the French economy and people and carries out the periodic national census. Headquartered in Montrouge, a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, it is the French branch of Eurostat. The INSEE was created in 1946 as a successor to the Vichy regime's National Statistics Service (SNS). It works in close cooperation with the Institut national d'études démographiques (INED). Purpose. The INSEE is responsible for the production and  analysis of official statistics in France. Its best known responsibilities include: Organisation. The INSEE is the responsibility of MINEFI, the French Ministry of Finance. The current director is Jean-Luc Tavernier. However, Eurostat considers INSEE as an independent body, although its independence is not written in the law. Teaching and research. Research and teaching for the INSEE is undertaken by GENES or Group of the National Schools of the Economy and Statistics (French: "Groupe des Écoles Nationales d'Économie et Statistique") which includes: Codes and numbering system. INSEE gives numerical indexing codes (French: "les Codes INSEE") to various entities in France : History. Statistics in France before the INSEE. The INSEE was preceded by several related statistical agencies in France. In 1833, the Statistics Bureau (French: "Bureau de la statistique") was created by Adolphe Thiers. In 1840 it was renamed "SGF" or "General Statistics of France". Under the direction of Lucien March, the SGF expanded its activities. It began an investigation of consumption habits in 1907, following with periodic investigations on retail prices in 1911. In 1920 Alfred Sauvy introduced competitive entrance exams for SGF recruitment. However, it was René Carmille, a pioneer of the use of the calculators, who laid the  foundations of the modern organization. In 1940, the Demographic Service ("Service de la démographie") was created under the Ministry of Finance in order to replace the military recruitment office prohibited by the June 1940 Armistice with Nazi Germany. In order to better conceal its undertakings, the Demographic Service absorbed the SGF on 11 October 1941. The new organization was called the "SNS" or "National Statistics Service". As part of this reorganization, six new offices were created in the Northern (occupied) zone whose regional structure is maintained today in INSEE. René Carmille created an Applied Sciences School (predecessor of the current  ENSAE) to specially train members for the SNS. Carmille worked for Vichy France but he was actually a double agent for the French underground. From his position in the SNS he sabotaged the Nazi census of France, which saved untold numbers of Jewish people from death camps. He also used his department to help mobilize French resistance in Algeria. He was caught by the Nazis and sent to Dachau where he died in 1945. Creation of the INSEE. The SNS was finally transformed into the INSEE by the law of 27 April 1946, The National Institute of Statistics and Economic  Surveys for the metropolis and overseas France ("L'Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques pour la métropole et la France d'outre-mer"). List of directors. The following is a list of directors of the INSEE since it was founded: