At the LR Forum 'Behind the Economic Census: Innovation and Value for Colombia', Dane experts and analysts highlighted the importance of the 2024 economic census, with preliminary results set for November 11, 2025. After 34 years without updating this data, the study will map productive units across the country, especially benefiting small producers. Its role in informed decision-making and microenterprise formalization was emphasized.
The forum, held on October 30, 2025, brought together Andrea Ramírez, Dane's deputy director; Piedad Urdinola, Dane's general director; José Mauricio Salazar, director of the Fiscal Observatory at Universidad Javeriana; María Alejandra Osorio, director of Acopi Bogotá; and Nicolás Gómez, director of the Centro de Analítica Cesa. Urdinola explained that the census, planned since 2019 and collected in 2024 by over 8,000 censistas, cost $335 billion pesos and uses administrative records and hybrid methodology to georeference economic units at national, rural, urban, departmental, and municipal levels.
Ramírez detailed coverage of sectors like commerce and services, construction, transport, manufacturing industry, public administration, public utility services, street vendors, and financial services. It includes a gender focus to identify business owners and maps the popular seller network. 'Small producers will have the greatest opportunity for improvement,' Ramírez noted, envisioning a map of bakeries, tire shops, and stores.
Osorio highlighted that 90% of businesses are microenterprises, key for employment and social mobility. Of 5.2 million micronegocios, only 10% have commercial registration and 22% RUT, underscoring formalization needs. Salazar praised the data for analyzing productive capacity and policy effects like minimum wage, despite Dane's budget cuts: $1.2 trillion this year and $0.8 trillion next.
Gómez emphasized the full census advantage over sampling, avoiding 'garbage in – garbage out,' and enabling better policies. Urdinola added innovations like APIs for access, university alliances, and a geovisor. Final results will arrive in the first semester of 2026, followed by the agricultural census in 2027. 'Economic censuses are key to having information and making better decisions,' Urdinola concluded.